Virginia Tech Shooting and Nineteen Minutes

I only had two chapters left of the Jodi Picoult novel Nineteen Minutes when a co-worker walked over to my desk and asked me was I going to write about the Virginia Tech shooting. This was two days after the incident and I hadn't heard a word about it. I avoid the news. I'm so tired of hearing about who was shot, killed, robbed, stabbed, and bombed. It's not that I don't care, but after awhile, I just don't want to hear all the negativity. But the story of a school shooting automatically caught my attention because I was so into Nineteen Minutes and I was aware of the Columbine shooting in Littleton, Colorado eight years ago on April 20^th, only two days before this new news came into play. In Nineteen Minutes, Picoult spun an intriguing story that made me sympathize more with the killer than the deceased victims. Two characters (Matt and Courtney) of them I had no sympathy at all for and wondered if the story about 23-year-old senior English major from Centreville, Virginia, Cho Seung-Hui, was remotely close to the fictional character, Peter, who shot at people who'd bullied him in school.

When I watched the CNN video of Seung-Hui saying "You had everything you wanted. Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats. Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust fund wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac weren't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything," I wondered whether instead of being physically bullied, did Seung-Hui snap because of elitism within the college. I found it interesting that Nikki Giovanni, a pretty intriguing professor and well-known poet, seemed to be so frustrated with her former student, Seung-Hui. I've watched Giovanni perform on Def Poetry Jam (on HBO) and she is not a light-hearted poet. She's written work about the Black Power movement of the 1960s, Malcolm X's death, and other controversial topics, so for one student to get her so upset that she didn't want to be around him should've struck the faculty department as odd too.

When watching Seung-Hui's videos about a shooting, his mannerisms seemed more like a student who was trying to memorize dialogue from a play instead of speaking from the heart. Considering he killed himself, along with 32 other people, after chaining doors, trying to force his way into classrooms, and causing people to jump out of windows to get away from him, my question was "What made him snap?" I don't believe that there are mysterious things that happen with no reason. Everything, in my opinion, has a reason and I question his. But, he killed himself, after leaving 27 QuickTime videos and a 1,800 word statement. Obviously, he wanted his opinion to be heard, even if he couldn't give it in person, which is even stranger considering his roommates claim he barely said more than a sentence to them throughout their time with him. They said he seemed shy and quiet, but rude. From the looks of the video, he just seems awkward.

Many people blame parents when something like this happens. Seung-Hui's parents' mail carrier describes Seung-Hui's family, father Cho Sung-tae, 61, and his mother, Cho Hyang-ai, 51, as "super nice" and that "no parent deserves that." The mail carrier was talking about parents who didn't deserve a child who would grow up to be a murderer. But as with Nineteen Minutes and the Columbine shooting, I still have the same question. Even if the parents didn't deserve to have to deal with children who go on shooting sprees, what makes the killers feel the students who died deserved to? What forces a person into a corner so much that they feel the only way that they can eliminate their troubles is to end the lives of others?

In Nineteen Minutes, fictional characters talk about how when someone feels so bullied and victimized after years of issues, they view everything as a threat, even simple things like someone who bothers them walking by. I wonder did the people he accused of having elitist views bother him. Did they pity him? Did they make fun of him? Did they not think he was worth knowing? He says that he felt like he was backed into a corner, but by whom?

But this is real life and not a book. And with real life comes real deaths. There are always three sides to every story: both parties and then the truth, but with the main parties not being able to explain the situation, I guess the only way to find out is within the words that the killer would not say out loud in front of people but felt comfortable enough to say on camera and on paper. Two students stopped attending poetry sessions due to Seung-Hui's words, and now, 29 more can't attend school at all because of him.