"It Couldn't Happen Here"

I don't know what it is about the week of April the 15th. The Oklahoma City Bombing happened this week. The shootings at Columbine occurred during this week. And unfortunately before this week could pass by peacefully another year, there is the terrible event at Virginia Tech University. Again, it devestatingly marked itself on the calendar today and took its place among the chaotic, unspeakable events that boggle the mind.

With the media, it took its usual, "When it bleeds, it leads" type of stance in covering the events of the day. From the crack of dawn, the unblinking camera-eye focused on the drama and trama of fear, grief and questioning as the press conferences were conducted amidst the vigils to mourn such a tremendous loss. Even on Larry King, Dr. Phil made his usual visit with his insights into why it happened.

But even he does not have all the pieces together. In that, the answers, like in Columbine, are a long time coming. Instead, the visceral is closely watched as descriptions and tears flowed equally to the rapt attention of the audience. And in the course of daily events, we still did not come any closer to solving why it happened. But, the occurences today continued to be marked with a sense of sadness and regret of how situations like the one at Virginia Tech could have been avoided.

It is easy to say that our culture has been built on violence and continues to be marked by violence--from the top on down. You could even say with the same facility that it is celebrated in our culture.

The impact is still the same when one views the sad faces and the bewildered looks on television. The flowing of compassion for those who were affected by this terrible happening still comes through. The event has been marked. The investigations have begun. But, it still doesn't erase the quiet knowledge that this week has impacted the lives of everyday Americans and citizens across the globe before.

And in a roundabout way, there are still these questions among all others, "Why this week? Why today?"