Stone placed in memory of Va. Tech killer

Why, this certainly is! Oh, I thought you meant SportsJournalists.com, not VT. Carry on.

 

This has me torn.

On one hand, it feels wrong to me.

On the other, recognizing all the dead, even the killer, seems like the Christian thing to do.

 

Everyone's going to draw the line someplace different. Mine is somewhere between forgiveness and recognition. I forgive him, but I don't believe there should be any public display for him that is part of a display for the people he killed.

If, God forbid, someone I love were gunned down by that sick fuck, I wouldn't want his memorial next door.

 

I guess i'm not a Christian, then....oh wait, we knew that already...

 

Neither am I, but the kind of compassion that allows someone to think of even the perpetrator of such crimes is something to aspire to for all of us, I think.

 

that was my point earlier. to forgive goes beyond one religion. it goes to being a good person.

 

But you can forgive ... and just not believe in the idea of memorializing the guy along with the 32 he slaughtered.

 

Depends on how you define forgiveness. I'm sure there are those to whom true forgiveness means treating his memory the same.

Logically, too, memorials are for the living, not the dead, and his parents have to be as scarred as anyone.

I dunno, honestly.

 

My guess, though: His parents aren't coming anywhere near that memorial. Parents of the slain will be. If I'm going to err, it's going to be on the side of not adding to their misery.

But our hero can feel morally superior and righteous for adding the 33rd stone. Everyone else's feelings be damned.

My opinion: If she feels that strongly about it, erect her own memorial to the "33". Don't deface someone else's.

 

See, I disagree.

I'm as bleeding heart as they come. But I don't think this kid was save-able or salvageable. I just think he was evil.

If he had killed himself, I would felt overwhelming sympathy.

If he had killed his bullies/tormentors/etc, and then killed himself, I wouldn't have condoned it, but I could have at least felt a twinge of sympathy, and maybe a bit of understanding.

But he chose to go on a rampage and kill dozens of innocent kids. I have zero sympathy, zero understanding and, frankly, zero desire to remember this monster.

I feel the same way about Columbine. If they had gone to school and specifically sought out and killed the kids who bullied them, it still would have been abhorrent, but at least there would have been some way to comprehend their actions, some way to wrap your mind around it.

Just my thoughts... I think the Christian tradition of forgiveness is admirable. (Witness the Amish after that school shooting recently). But I think you can go about it with humility and tact, and not self-congratulation. Cho doesn't DESERVE forgiveness. If some people choose to give it to him, they have my respect. But you can't unilaterally bestow it upon him, which is what this girl seems to be attempting.

 

Unfortunately, some kids feel(like Cho) that way. They have a "If I'm going down, you're coming down with me" type of attitude.

You make good points. That's why I'm really torn about this issue.

 

Great post.