SLAUGHTER OF INNOCENTS

Can anyone tell me what is going on in these last two weeks? Three school shootings in the US and one horrible one in Canada as well, on September 14th. I took some hits for blogging about Lukas Rossi winning his first spot that day for rock band Supernova - by email, not that anyone left comments here on the blog. That was the day of our terrible Dawson College shooting in Montreal by Killveer Gill, who loaded himself up with a shotgun, a restricted weapon which he'd obtained legally up here in Canada, and then enjoyed himself killing one 18 yrs old girl and wounding about six or more women and himself before the police got to him and shot him. During the autopsy it was determined that it was his own shot which ultimately killed him, although the police had certainly rained fire down on him.

Now, this one room school house in Lancaster, PA has been defiled by a 32yr old truck driver with a 20 yr old grudge against something regarding a school girl when he was 12. And it just now explodes? He orders all the boys and male teacher out of the school, brings in 600 rounds of ammunition, two assault weapons, ties the girls up at the ankles with wire and plastic ties, and then shoots them execution style. And as soon as the police surround him, like the coward, but no doubt mentally ill person he is, he offs himself inside with little girls screaming and crying all around him.

I left comments in a discussion online with the Globe and Mail newspaper. They took a poll as to whether the media should play such stories as they unfold, when they are such obvious copy cats, omit some details, or downplay them. I wrote in that a) I believed that CTVNewsNet and CNN didn't have to rebroadcast the crime every 15 minutes until society was saturated with it, as it becomes addictive to time bombs such as this man, and in their minds, it makes it "ok" to repeat the offense. I truly believe that it's like watching a violent video game over and over. And b) I felt that the focus should be on the families who've been left behind, and on the victims themselves, not glorifying the killers, as was done here in Canada with Killveer Gill - countless images of him from his Blog, excerpts from his Blog, etc. It was really quite disgusting. And it was CTVNewsNet that put that out there. Nothing on the 18 yrs old he killed until her funeral.

The Amish community according to the media are coping as well as can be expected with this tragedy. They are a people of strength, faith in God, and pull together in times of disaster. I was heartened to hear on the news that the hospital had received phone calls and emails from local churches asking how they could help - either with meals for those sitting at the hospital, or transportation back and forth from their town to the hospital as these are Old Order Amish and do not use cars. The Amish and Mennonites are well known to turn up at local disaster sites to help with the victims of tornadoes and floods. It was so good to see "outsiders" offering to help them in their time of extreme need.

Yesterday, after the shooting, I was in WalMart with my children and our local Hutterites (cousins to the Amish) were in from their settlement to shop. They all wear the same clothes, headwear, and the boys and men all dress in black. Their women look so serene - I would love to have some of that serenity in my busy life! We live in a small town, and they are close by; I couldn't imagine such a terrible thing happening here. And yet, this too is rural prairie - they only have two vehicles in their entire community, and one school.

Our high school has video cameras in all corners of all floors, and yet there is no mandate to sign in at the office or report in anywhere. Students roam freely and so do adults - no visitors passes clipped to their shirts in evidence. All the doors are unlocked. It makes me shiver.

We write about crime, evil, psychopaths, serial killers, murder, rape, what makes criminals do what they do. But reality is far worse than what we write. These madmen take away our innocence, and they slaughter our innocent ones.