Hokie Spirit

It's impossible to know what to say regarding the Virginia Tech tragedy.

The news coverage becomes numbing after watching for awhile. In this era of 24-hour news, it feels like the coverage is somewhat voyeuristic, and I'm uncomfortable seeing people experience their grief on camera.

One thing that seemed to be a common theme this morning during the Today Show was what signs people should look for and how you can tell if someone is going to go on a shooting spree. There was much discussion about school safety and memories of Columbine.

I am confident (and somewhat dismayed) that a whole new round of safe schools legislation will be proposed as it was after Columbine - when "zero tolerance" policies became popular and led to grade school students being suspended for drawing pictures of guns. Teachers, students and especially parents will be looking for ways that they can do something to protect their children from "those people".

The sad reality is that the profile shows that these killers tend to be kids who have been ostracized by their peers and society, and our response should not be implementing strategies that lead to more people being ostracized.

We need to come together - not point at each other in fear. Until we do, then my fear is that history is destined to repeat itself.