The world is now acquainted to the cold-blooded shooting of several students that has so far claimed six lives at the Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Illinois. Reactions to such gruesome acts are generally defined by one's proximity to, association with or knowledge of those involved - victims or perpetrators. The campus is less than 28 miles away from home for me. It is even closer to Pastor Eric Mangek Ngum and family of the Victory Baptist Church in Dekalb, himself a former student of NIU. Again and again, society is left with the lingering question: What can and should be done to prevent these "random" patterns on campuses such as Virginia Tech in 2007 and yesterday in Northern Illinois?
Guns and mental illness are always to blame. From the dozen plus in Columbine in April 1999, to almost triple that number last year at the Virginia Tech and now six and counting at the Northern Illinois University, it seems improbable that society can ever do enough to protect its most vulnerable from a vicious few. The challenge has not been that of identifying the choice weapons of the killers, but that of preventing the undesirable elements from accessing the guns in a land where law and reality have chosen to be on a collision course.
The finger-pointing game between those who favor gun laws and those who are against will resume in public and private spaces for the next few weeks and, perhaps months and years to come. The Presidential campaigns may even include it on their stomps and debate about the Second amendment to the U.S Constitution, covering the right to gun ownership. But the pain of those who are mourning their loved ones from Columbine to Virginia and now Illinois will remain palpable forever. Forever, some will feel the guilt and even responsibility of sending their children to the school or campus where untimely death embraced them. And so they will seek to know what else any one could do to prevent it from happening then or ever again.
In the wake of their own shooting calamity, Virginia Tech re-examined a lot of existing security and administrative procedures to better safeguard life on campus. Northern Illinois developed a new security plan following the Virginia Tech horror; a rapid response plan that could not prevent the loss of lives for the six students. Such is an unfortunate acknowledgment that the shooter(s) will always be a step-ahead of the authorities. The dawning of such reality leaves each and every one of us on his or her own. The question then is what can each man do?
It is this question that led me to what a friend qualified as "patently outrageous" thinking. So, bear with me and tell me how crazy my thinking is... Bullet vests and helmets in class. Yes. It is my submission that students should be given the option to wear bullet vests and even helmets to class if they will carry such body armor around. This will not overstep the bounds of anyone, including the American Civil Liberties Union that would otherwise pounce on Universities or parents if any mandates are suggested. It is totally optional and even discretionary (except the helmet part).
I concede that soldiers die on the war front with far superior body armor. But they arguably do not have the same feeling of vulnerability that these students and teachers have when faced with the bad guy(s). Besides, the soldier knows what to expect on a battlefield. The expectation is not the same for the student or the teacher. In fact, they all expect for campus to incarnate and represent idealisms of safety and freedom; but not freedom to be another statistical bloodbath of mental carnage.
Mental breakdown is what it is. The psychiatrists and other mental health and social workers have a lot of work on their hands. We live in a society and era when stress multiplies the possibility for easy meltdown by some. The difference for some in society is facilitated by access to guns. Yes, you remember the time that you wish X person were dead because you hold them responsible for your suffering and that of your people. The only reason you probably did not act is because you do not have what it takes and fear what could go wrong if your plan failed. Therefore, because of that potential in most every one human being that is not a saint, it is advisable that we think about what to do not to be in harms way.
If we wear seat belts it is for a reason. If we wear condoms it is for a reason. We cannot punish the killers because they are too cowardly. But society will have to make them work harder before killing anyone. They will have to take time to aim, as opposed to having open targets. This may reduce the number of deaths and provide a better edge for the rapid response units.
May those who grieve at this time find solace in the higher Power of God.
What are your thoughts on making schools and campuses safer?
Innocent Chia
Citizen Journalist
Email: innochia@gmail.com
1 comment:
Date: Feb 16, 2008 1:04 PM
Albert Abongwa
As rightly stated, "mental breakdown is what it is" and as such we cannot use body vest and helmets to curtail mental breakdown. Society has to ask difficult questions like: what are the root causes of this mental breakdown and then proceed to find solutions to ameliorate and may be cure the breakdowns. While that is happening there must be another way of allowing mental patients ways to express their mental ideas. I always wonder how mental patients are not mental when they device and create elaborate plans to kill other people. It seems to suggest that they choose when to be mental.
With that said, it is my believe that the factors that lead to such demises are not isolated; it must be a combination of the ill effects of the society that we leave in. The challenge to "belong" or not to "belong", the in-ability to reap benefits after a hard day's work that can compensate for your leaving expenses etc are all factors that must be taking into consideration. For how far fetch these factors seem, it then seem to suggest that there isn't much that can be done to completely eliminate these mishaps. These are the trade offs of civilization, depending on what you call civilization. If not in colleges it is at post offices, if not post offices then business locations. Always remember that for all the things science and technology have created to make our lives better, it has created about an equal amount to make our live worst ...guns inclusive. If a gun can hold 48 bullets it means one of these nut heads will fire 48 rounds and may be hit forty eight people in less than 48 minutes. The seat belt and condoms contrast are resolving societal problems at length without limiting civil liberties.
albert
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