Got Fear?
Got Fear?
For just a moment, let us imagine that we might comprehend the fear experienced when we realize that bullets are whizzing by us and people are falling down and dying. The screams of potential victims invade our eardrums, as does the rapid beating of our hearts as panic envelopes our very being. Fear suddenly registers in our brain and immediately grips our soul, as our hearts seem to drop to our stomachs. A paralyzing fear that incapacitates us and we cannot move or speak. Our bodies tremble violently and our insides shudder. Our breathing quickens until transformed into deep panting. Our heads throb with confusing images posing as thoughts. We start praying to a God we may or may not believe exists. We beg him to spare us and stop the insane murderous attack. Grasping at moments of clarity, we seek shelter under desks, inside storage closets, behind anything that will hide the fact we exist— for that moment. We hear the swift pounding of feet beating the floor as people run, moving as fast as they can with but one intention— to stay alive! Uncontrollable tears erupt spilling down our cheeks.
This is how one might imagine experiencing a campus shooting. Campus shootings cause severe emotional and mental damage to victims, families, communities and the populace of a nation. They are not new to us; yet, these attacks are increasing in severity and magnitude.
The first incident of this nature was when Charles Whitman, 25, a former University of Texas at Austin student, took several rifles and ammunition to the observation deck at the university tower on August 1, 1966. Within ninety-six minutes, he had killed fourteen people and wounded thirty-one in what was the first mass murder in a public place in U.S. history (Colloff 102). Forty-one years after that immeasurable rampage took place, another horrific tragedy occurred. On April 16, 2007 Seung Hui Cho, 23, a senior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University...
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