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Originally Posted by Goldenphoenix
The following two articles deal with how some people are apparently elevating the status of the VT shooter with those of his victims. This is the moral equivalent of honoring suicide bombers, only in this case it's a suicide shooter. My heart goes out to the victims of the shooter, but he knew what he was doing, he didn't go to get professional help (medication and counseling), and he coldly and methodically plotted his evil deeds. I'm sorry, but I'm not so relativistic as to put the shooter on anything close to an equal level with his victims.
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I'm inclined to agree with the students putting up the memorials for Cho. I think it's important to support the VT community in doing whatever helps them heal. For many, many people forgiveness is an integral part of the healing process after a tragedy like this. Whatever helps the students and victims heal is fine by me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeltAlum
By the way, there was the same kind of controversy here when someone put up crosses on the hill in Clement Park next to the high school and included crosses for the shooters. As I recall (and it's a little fuzzy now) the additional two crosses were taken down -- or maybe all of them were.
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I remember the controversy too, but I'm actually inclined to say that they left the gunmen's crosses up in the end. IIRC, the backlash was mainly from media-type people who weren't even students at Columbine or residents in Littlewood, and eventually it died down. It was interesting in the way the community immediately put up the crosses for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the wake of the tragedy, that the residents and students immediately began trying to forgive. I do recall that someone wrote "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do" on the crosses, but that was the only reference to their actions in the memorial.
I don't know, I hope this controversy over Cho's memorial goes away soon. I think it's a testament to the strength of the VT community that, at the end of the day, they're willing to acknowledge that Cho's life had some value no matter how atrocious his actions. A memorial isn't just for the dead. I guess at the end of the day, Cho was someone's son too and it's awfully sweet of the VT students to acknowledge that there's a family out there grieving over the loss of Cho's life.
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