Please Give it a Rest

The Virginia Tech killings prove that we must restrict access to weapons that have no purpose other than to kill people.

No, they don't. They prove that the students should have been allowed to carry concealed weapons.

Wait, I heard that the killer was an Islamic Asian - this is terrorism.

No, I heard it started as a domestic problem - this shows we need to pay more and better attention to domestic violence prevention.

. . .

33 people, most of whom are the age of my children, just had their lives cut horribly short. I understand that fitting the tragedy into the framework of our political prejudgements is a form of trying to make sense of it. Sadly, I even understand the temptation to seize this tragedy as evidence to support your side of whatever argument you want to make.

But I urge you to hold off for a second. Simply feel the loss. Simply feel the tremor that the death of 33 people ought to cause. Don't allow yourself to chase the feeling away through placing it in a package of preconceptions. Think about their parents walking into their bedrooms back home. Think about their friends who were planning to have lunch with them. Feel the absence.

Our opinions cannot fill the absence, and ought not to try.