Let's Go Hokies
for the 32 (33 if you include the gunman) dead from yesterday's mass
killing. I find the whole thing fascinating on numerous levels:
1st. The fact that one more thing grabs the attention of the American
public so readily, pushing everything else aside. Have you any idea how
many people die every minute in the world? Doesn't really matter how -
guns, suicide, war, starvation, disease, etc. It's a part of the life
cycle. Yes, it is a sad thing for those involved, a loved one dead under
such bizarre circumstances. But then so are the tens of thousands of deaths
that are taking place in the middle east, Darfur, and (dare I say it) the
slaughterhouses.
2nd. This caught my attention quite quickly. Everyone immediately started
blaming the school, the police, somebody, anybody, that after the first two
murders (which looked like a basic domestic squabble) the entire campus of
some 26,000 students should have been immediately notified that there was a
killer on the loose and the campus (read 'small city') locked down. As if!
It always goes back to 'how can we beef up security everywhere? Let's make
the entire country into a police state. One person suggested that as soon
as the first 2 murders were seen (which they thought could have been a
murder/suicide), the ATF, national guard, police, and army should have been
called in. AS IF!
3rd. And to my 'mind' most important, was that fact that virtually no one
was asking 'why did he do it?' It's a little like when Bush or anyone, goes
to war, people really rarely ask "Why". They just kind of go, 'Uh, okay'.
I mean, obviously Cho was disturbed, but these days, EVERYONE is disturbed.
Over 1,000,000 people commit suicide (successfully) every year, with 2 to
10 times that many attempting suicide. Cho basically committed suicide,
just taking a few extras with him.
Anyway, there were many more observations made, however, back to the
convocation. So, there they are, thousands of people gathered together to
mourn their loss (including Prez & Mrs. Bush, the Virginia govenor and his
wife, speakers from the Christian, Buddhist, Jewish and Islamic faiths (why
do they never include Hindus? There are almost a billion of them.) and the
last speaker is a poet and professor at the school, Nikki Giovanni who
gave a powerful and stirring speech ending with "We are the Hokies! We will
prevail! We will prevail! We will prevail!" This brought the entire body of
students, faculty and all to their feet and chanting "Let's go Hokies!
Let's go Hokies! Let's go Hokies!" to rhythmic applause.
Strangest memorial I've ever seen.
But, again, the real question is why? Why did Cho find it necessary to go
and blow people away, emotionlessly it appeared, to the witnesses who saw
him? My answer here might best be given by quoting E. F. Schumacher who
said:
"It is a grave error to accuse a man who pursues self-knowledge of 'turning
his back on society'. The opposite would be more nearly true: that a man
who fails to pursue self knowledge is and remains a danger to society, for
he will tend to misunderstand everything that other people say or do, and
remain blissfully unaware of the significance of many things he does
himself."
Unless and until people seek Self knowledge, Self understanding, and true
wisdom (at the least) and even deeper, their own True Nature as
Consciousness itself, they will go around in any number of aspects of the
dream. Until they fully recognize that they are free from the mind and it's
conceptions and perceptions, they will continue to act in ignorance. There
is no way around it. As long as you consider the mind to be real and true,
and consider yourself AS that mind, you will act in ignorance! It is
inescapable. Mind means entrapment and ignorance when believed. It's as
simple as that. Give it up, explore it, investigate it, examine it, or
continue to live in a fool's paradise, which means suffering. Yes, Cho
killed a bunch of bodies...very sad, but those who willingly live in
ignorance kill the soul, and THAT is truly a sin!
okey dokey, I'm done.