Virginia Tech - You are in our thoughts and prayers
It can happen anywhere. We can not continue with the thinking that something as horrific as the Virginia Tech shootings will not happen in our own towns. Afterall, Blacksburg is that town - a rural, quiet, college town far away from the hustle and bustle of big city life. If it can happen at Virginia Tech, it can happen anywhere.
For this blogger, it is not just a media story. Virginia Tech is a school that many area teens will aspire to attend after graduating from our local high schools - I can only imagine that VT will be in the top 5 college choices for my own son. As a matter of fact, both my brothers are Virginia Tech grads. The violence, tragedy and sadness of yesterday’s events will touch so many of our family and friends. Everyone around here seems to know someone who goes to or went to Virginia Tech.
In times like these, the media is very quick to place the blame on the school for the way it did or did not handle the situation. However, the school, the local hospital, and local authorities did the best they could when faced with an unimaginable situation.
Everyone will ask how could this situation have been prevented. The answer will never be known. Only the individual who committed those horrible acts knows - and he took his own life too. The answer lies with in ourselves, our parenting skills, and our compassion as a society.
How do we reach out to a troubled individual and provide them with the support and tools to face adversity and make the right choices in solving those issues?
So, today, my heart and my thoughts go out to the entire Virginia Tech community.
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5 opinions for Virginia Tech - You are in our thoughts and prayers
Gayle
Apr 17, 2007 at 8:32 am
I love Grandma’s old saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” As a former social worker, I struggled with how to reach the highest number of troubled people. It’s a challenge. I hope that, out of this tragedy, comes a better way to help those students who are having problems, so that future tragedies can be averted.
Karen is Thrifty
Apr 18, 2007 at 10:45 am
It is hard to determine how to help people sometimes, especially people that have walls of hatred and bitterness built up. I know that I have taught some kids over the years that I hoped and prayed wouldn’t do anything crazy. I’m sure they were getting help from outside sources, but there are some people that just have issues with everyone. It seems as though the guy that committed these crimes was that way.
This definitely is a tragedy. I almost started crying this morning on the way to work just thinking about it. We used to live in the Blacksburg area and did some work at VT. I got an email from a friend last night. She said a friend of hers from church was shot 3 times and he was in the hospital. It is sad when lives are so innocently taken.
Beth Carls
Apr 18, 2007 at 2:46 pm
I’m so glad you asked this question - How do we reach out to a troubled individual and provide them with the support and tools to face adversity and make the right choices in solving those issues?
So many times when these types of issues happen, we talk alot about the problem and very little about the solution. Many times it’s because we might not know what to do. MindOH! does have a solution.
After spending my life in corporate America, I had a chance to take some IPO funds and start a socially responsible business. And what MindOH! has focused on for the past 7 years is giving students their voice - using technology. We create online tools to improve offline relationships.
Many times as adults we just don’t listen to the young people in our lives. I know many of us can remember many times growing up when we felt shut down, not heard. Did your parents ever say “Children should be seen and not heard?” Fortunately, many of us had the self-esteem to deal with those kinds of experiences and can move on. For those of us who don’t have a healthy self-concept, we act out in these inappropriate ways.
It’s amazing what a 20 minute interactive module can do to have a conversation with a young person and give them a chance to tell their side of the story without being interrupted. We meet them in their culture (technology) and help them the process to put their story together when they’ve misbehaved in school before they meet with a school authority. We get almost 6 times as much information with our process than when a student talks face-to-face.
And, we took that evidence-based program and created a similar product to deal with issues between families in the home.
So, once we get the amount of information from the student and it is shared, then the intervention becomes more effective, the student feels heard and an improved relationship takes place.
Did you know that it only takes ONE adult who a child feels connected to to help them have a connection with someone on their school campus? Students drop out of school typically for 2 reasons: (1) they don’t feel a connection to anyone on campus; and (2) they don’t believe school is relevant.
We are doing everything humanly possible to get the word out about this tool and help schools find funding so they can begin getting to the bottom of the issues facing them daily in discipline management.
Essential Keystrokes | tips, resources, and reviews on Web design, marketing and blogging » Blog Archiv » I am not being silent today
Apr 30, 2007 at 3:16 am
[…] like many others, was deeply touched and affected by the tragic events that day. I shared my feelings publicly while I was still somewhat in shock. We wore maroon and orange for the remainder of the […]
Casual Keystrokes » VT - Moving Forward
Apr 30, 2007 at 4:07 am
[…] like many others, was deeply touched and affected by the tragic events that day. I shared my feelings publicly while I was still somewhat in shock. We wore maroon and orange for the remainder of the […]
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