I, like most Kansas Citians, could not believe the news yesterday about the shooting at Ward Parkway Mall. I was completely floored.  It seems like most people talk about how it “hit close to home” when referring to the incident.  I’m not quite sure if people mean that term literally or figuratively, but I can relate to the statement.  The mall actually happens to be directly next to where I work.  In fact, my work shares the same parking garage as the mall.  That was “my” Starbucks where the window got shot out.  I go to eat at a restaurant there pretty often when I’m in town, too.  It’s just amazing stuff.  The entire parking area that lead to the mall was closed off today which hindered the parking abilities for many of us at work.  We were told we didn’t need to be there at work if we didn’t want to be.  I can understand if people wouldn’t be able to work if there weren’t parking spaces available, but I couldn’t help but wonder if people silently said “Yes!” to themselves when they read that they could go home because of the tragedy.  It’s a sort of twisted irony that some people could feel any sort of selfish benefit as a result of what happened.

I realized today that I neglected to write any reaction to the Virginia Tech killings, and I guess I feel the need to write a response about that and the one that took place yesterday here in Kansas City.  I’ve been reading a lot of reactions after both of these things happened about how changes need to be made with gun control.  Some believe we need to crack down on it while others seem to think that making gun control less strict will somehow reduce gun-related incidents (I still don’t get that logic).  Personally, these two killings make me wonder if we shouldn’t be looking into how we are treating our mentally ill patients.  In both cases, the gunmen were clinically treated for some sort of mental problem.  The Virginia Tech killer had even had notes by his doctor stating that he could be a threat to others.  The shooter yesterday in KC was admitted to a hospital for mental illness only to be released six hours later with a prescription for antidepressants.  The warning signs were clearly there, and it’s sad to think that these people were let go back into society with the expectation that they’d be responsible enough to take their pills on a regular basis.  Who knows what the right solution is, though.  When things like this happen everyone just wants to play the blame game even though sometimes crazy people just snap.

Now that I’ve talked gotten those thoughts out of the way, I want to talk about a couple of things that I’m sure many people who read this will find insensitive.  For starters, that video the Virginia Tech killer made absolutely blew my mind.  I didn’t think it could be possible for someone to go on a rampage to kill 33 people yet somehow make a laughable videotape ahead of time but the dude managed to do it.  Maybe I’m alone but that video of him was so horrendously bad.  And the picture of him holding the hammer?  Are you kidding me? If he sent me an email of that picture with the words “Watch out!” underneath it, I seriously think I would have injured myself falling out of my chair laughing.  And that is precisely what has fascinated me about the VT murders.  An introverted, non-scary guy ended up causing the most awful massacre in U.S. history. 

Also, whenever I read about any murder-suicide my heart sinks.  I don’t understand the logic of going off and killing people if you’re going to end up letting yourself die at the end of it.  I realize what happened yesterday in KC wasn’t technically a suicide, but it was more or less a suicide mission and the guy knew going into it that he was a dead man.  Anyway, as a plea to any wanna-be assassins out there, please get some help.  If after you have sought help you still want to kill others and yourself, do us all a favor and do the killing to yourself first.  Please.  The result is going to be the same for you regardless of if you take other people’s lives or not.  Just load one bullet and use it on yourself.  With just one squeeze of the trigger, you will singlehandedly make the world a better place.  Thanks in advance.