VA Tech Shooting

Title:  VA Tech - Trying to Understand
Date:  18 April 2007 4:19 PM
Category:  Personal Poem

Weapons of mass destruction kill thousands or thirty-two
How can you measure the forces of sadness and loss and grief?
How does it feel standing - facing - a bullet-exploding door
Trying to save your own life?

Sometimes we think that wouldn't be so bad
But scary even with our approval
I wonder if we would take it personally
Thinking someone wanted to kill us - whoever we are?

I like to think that my heroism would bust out saving all
Even if it was time for me to go away.
It's easy to be brave and heroic with words
How does it feel facing steely dead killing eyes?

I would have, of course, tried to talk to the shooter
To help him work through his anger issues and anxieties
We would sit together over a beer and chat
I would tell him why it wasn't a good idea to kill people.

I would of course request all people go safely elsewhere
So that the shooter and I could talk without distraction
I would ask him why he wanted to kill others
When he could just commit suicide and float gently away.

He would tell me they all deserved it, those people
And why he was angry with them and they had to die
I would ask him if he wanted company during his death
I would ask him why he felt that would help, him.

The shooter and I would relax more from the beer
And from our good conversation about anger and hate
The shooter would lean back and sigh, perhaps he would look confused
I would ask the shooter how he felt.

The shooter would tell me he felt better and he wished he had talked to me before
Before he decided to kill those people who walked by his life
I would feel the shooter's pain deep in my gut and my heart would hurt
And then I would kill him with his own gun.