Looking for someone to blame

I guess there is no right answer to the thoughts that I have this morning concerning the Virginia Tech incident. However, my initial thoughts concerning the media are not good ones. Anytime blood hits water, the media sharks start to swarm. They ask questions that have no real answers, and when the answers don't match their expectations, they ask the same question using a slightly different phrase or word. Most of the answers early in an investigation are usually, "I don't know, we have not finished our investigation."

But the questions that bother me the most are the ones that try to find someone to blame. "Was there something more that could have been done?" "After the first incident, why wasn't the campus shut down?" "What is being done to prevent this from happening?"

Here is my answer. The police, the administration, the campus security, the campus emergency response systems, the security of the buildings are not to blame! Blame lies with one coward who took advantage of over 60 innocent human beings and shot a gun! Why is it assumed that after one "isolated" incident, the individual is going to commit crimes even more outrageous?

If the campus was shut down for two hours, and the coward waited three and went to the academic building, would that have been enough time? If the campus was shut down for 24 hours, and the coward shot again a day later, is that enough time?

We live in a free and open society. We take for granted that everyone, or should I simply say that most upstanding citizens are going to play by the rules. People just don't, dare I say shouldn't come into a building and blow people away.

Media sharks - back off. Let the administration, police, and families sort all of this out before we go asking more questions. But I know that's just not going to happen.

In the meantime, I'm not going to cast blame on anyone except the one who committed the crime. I am also going to pray, for all the individuals, the families, and the entire campus community who is affected by such a tragedy.