There is a sickness in the United States. We live in a country that is every day barraged with messages of war, intolerance, and bigotry. There is a sickness in this country that runs deep to the core and the mass murder at Virginia Tech was only a symptom of this sickness.
There is something that was planted in this country when the pilgrims went on their first murderous rampage against the Indians, when they shackled their first African, when the United States carried out its first acts of aggression against another nation in the name of conquest, economic gain, and imperialism.
Something rotten infested this country at those moments and in the past two-hundred and fifty years that sickness has manifested itself and we have come to the precipice.
There are those who would be quick to condemn this young man, Cho Seung Hui, for his actions, yet I ask, are you ready and willing to condemn yourselves? We must ask ourselves serious and soul-searching questions if we are to come to grips with and learn from this tragedy.
We must ask ourselves how we treat others. Do we participate in oppressive structures? Do we act in ways that encourage systems of domination and oppression? What are our values? Are they just? Are they humane? Do we recognize the humanity and dignity that is deserving of all people? Do we work towards the elimination of hierarchy and oppression or do we tolerate injustice and simply turn our heads? We must find better ways of living and bring about radical changes in our society.
We cannot live in a country that puts so little value on life that it can send bombs to kill and maim thousands of miles away in the name of profit, that champions the death penalty, even when it is seen to be unjust, that everyday on television, in film, and throughout the national media glorifies violence and not expect that glorification of violence to trickle down into our everyday and personal lives.
Michael Moore’s Bowling For Columbine asked us to consider the links between the waging of war and the violence that disrupts our daily lives. We have yet to consider this, yet if we are to change the course we are on, and we must change it if we are to survive, we will have to recognize the connections between the values we uphold and what occurs in our society.
We need to build a society based on peace and love, one in which everyone is valued and is given the humanity and dignity that they deserve.
Virginia Tech sadly is not an isolated event. We have had countless school shootings since Columbine occurred in 1999 and even more violent episodes throughout the country. Whether it be Virginia Tech, Columbine, the Amish school shootings, the Washington D.C. sniper, or the murder of the young groom in New York City, these acts of violence are symptoms of the negative values that exist in our society. Until we bring about change and learn a better way of living, we will repeatedly be confronted with the lessons that we should learn from these tragedies.
