Warning Signs

So as Human Beings we have a genetically encoded warning beacon that becomes customized over time to filter out the false alarms.  We know the glowing orange metal coil on the electric range is hot.  We, of course had to be taught this.  Our parents or the experience of getting burned taught us the glowing orange coil is hot.  We have that so ingrained in our heads that we sometimes get careless around the glowing orange coil and get burned.  Driving really fast is exhilarating and dangerous.  Your adrenaline flows like crazy and you have that sense of "holy crap....one stupid little over-correction and I'm a dead man seatbelt and airbag won't matter at that speed...." then we usually slow down.  Unless you are the Perfect Line who often races vehicles and enjoys it immensely.  He has trained himself how to drive a vehicle at high speeds.  He knows just what his car is capable of, and just what he as the driver is capable of.   There are warning signs everyday that we ignore, and we are lucky to survive to live another day.  Ever walk down the street and catch someone out of the corner of your eye?  There could be a handful of people around you, but somehow that one person caught your attention.  Why?  Usually when we are walking down a street it's to get to a location; some destination that is on our mind.  So why should this random stranger distract us momentarily?  What does it mean and what should we do/have done about it?  If it is just you and the random stranger and it's dark....you should run and make all kinds of noise.  That little momentary distraction was your warning bell going off.  Your primitive mind is telling you "creep alert...watch out for that guy." 

 

There are more serious warning signs that often get ignored.  Several of those signs were ignored or given the old "band aid treatment" and now 31 people on the Campus of Virginia Tech are no longer with us.  The only reason they are dead is because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time in the path of a mentally ill individual who was lashing out at representations of the aggressors in his own delusional world.   From what I have read and heard, this young man had issues; big issues.  These issues were documented and I would assume (it hasn't been verified by our sensationalist media yet) that treatment was applied, or attempted to be applied.  The young man had been determined by someone (a professional I'm assuming) to be "a threat to himself".  He was suicidal.  I wondering if this kid had any meds or was seeing a Therapist.  A definite warning sign if you ask me.  He had two complaints of stalking at Virginia Tech...two separate women said this guy was stalking them and they listened to their warning signs and reported him.  They were genuinely worried.  What was done to this young man?  Did Campus security think these ladies were just being silly??  Then we have his creative writing teacher.  She has said in numerous interviews that his writings scared her.  They were apparently filled with violence and psycho-sexual situations and language.  At the least someone didn't think this kid had the potential for rape??  Sounds like a serial killer in training if you ask me.  I'm not sure exactly what was done about this.  The teacher apparently brought this to the School heads attention, but what was done?   Three warning signs that pointed glaringly to a potential for violence and yet this kid was allowed to remain on campus.  What happened?  What should have been done?  I don't know school policy for Virginia Tech so I don't know what they could have done.  Like the Discourser says "If you aren't in the shit you don't know how you'd react".  He would know.  He has to interpret warning signs of danger all day long as a Middle School Administrator.  12 and 13 year olds with guns and knives and he has to determine who is the real danger, and who is just being stupid.  I was going to rant about how the school should have done more, but I thought about it.  From the outside looking in, it looks like everyone that has been involved in this young man's life dropped the ball.  Was it his parents fault he is this way?  Society?  A chemical imbalance that went untreated?  Childhood trauma that turned into delusion and murderous rage?  From where I sit, it looks like a lot of warning signs were there, but went horribly unheeded.  I'm not sure why campus wasn't evacuated after the first two shootings in the dorm?  Maybe security and the Police thought they had it contained and didn't want to cause a panic.  We all want to point the finger at someone.....I point the finger at the young man that chose to take two pistols and go on a rampage.  Was it video games?  No.  That's a convenient excuse.  That's like blaming Judas Priest because your kid listened to their music and took his life.  That's like Charles Manson saying the Beatle's song "Helter Skelter" told him to kill all those people.  Was it the easy access to weapons in this Country?  Not sure.  He apparently bought the weapons 5 weeks before.  Premeditation definitely but not "crime of passion".  He used a Credit Card and his background check was clean.  What does a background check check for anyway?  Criminal record most likely.  Felonious activity.  According to the owner of the store that sold the guns the kid seemed on the up and up.  Ted Bundy did too.  He was rather charming and well dressed, a good conversationalist as well.  What could have been done to keep weapons out of the hands of someone classified as "a danger to himself"??  Should a background check include a history of mental illness?  Should there be a waiting period?  Having never purchased a firearm other than a black powder pistol I don't know what the process is.  I know the gunshop folks can run a check to see if the person is a felon or not.  Felons cannot purchase guns.  I'm sure many find a way, but the up and up gun stores won't sell you one if you are a convicted felon.  Weapons are dangerous, but should the be taken away from us?  The NRA (National Redneck Association....okay that's not what it stands for, but it should...) loves to quote the Second Amendment to that document called the Constitution.  The right to bear arms (not to arm bears).  What they leave out is the whole statement which reads something like "The rights of the citizenry to bear arms against an arm aggressor as a part of a Citizen Militia".  Something like that.  In other words, you have the right to wield (bear) a firearm if you are a part of a Militia (the Minutemen is what it referred to actually) defending this Country from an aggressor.  It doesn't say that Ricky Bobby can own a full auto assault rifle for deer hunting.  The NRA disagrees.  I think that the average Joe needs to go through some kind of Hunter/Shooter safety class and apply for a license to own a weapon before he can purchase and use one.  Motorcycle riders have to go through a Motorcycle safety course before certain States will give them a drivers license, why not folks who want to use firearms.  Chaney could have benefited from a gun safety class that's for sure.  The City I live in has a once a month Hand Gun Safety class sponsored by the Police Department.  A great idea if you ask me.  I also wonder how it is that after Columbine in 1999, this still happens.  That was a huge warning sign, but yet we haven't done much to heed it.  4 planes were hijacked and flown into buildings on our soil and thousands of people were killed.  As a result, you and I had to give up a huge chunk of Civil Liberties so we can fly across Country.  We stand in line for hours, are limited to the amount of liquid we can bring on board, and lo and behold no planes have been intentionally flown into buildings since.  Maybe keeping our kids safe in schools isn't a Governmental priority.  From what the Discourser says, funds are tight and he has to account for every red cent.  I know the concept of seat belts on busses has been hashed about, but yet the School Districts and the State Boards of Education all have excuses why they can't put them in.  But yet, they enforce dress codes so that all kids come to school dressed the same.  Something has gotten skewed in our Society.  The glowing orange coil on the range is no longer hot....we have no idea what it is anymore.  It seems to me like we are just placing our hand down and ignoring the smell of burning flesh.  It seems to me like we are ignoring the screamingly obvious warning signs around us.