It's a difficult day

I found myself tearing up on the drive into the University today. The dispassionate tone of the press conferences at 9:20 this morning and the descriptions of the horror at Virginia Tech got to me. I'm not the only twitchy one today. The University parking lot is unusually empty and I noticed more of the University vehicles in conspicuous spaces.

I'm twitchy also because my husband's place of business got shot up in 1999 and I realize how close to home some of this is. He recalled a suicide that occurred when he was at Tech and how it's memory still haunts him after more than 20 years.

I wonder what kind of pushbars the Norris building had. The really old fashioned ones are so easy to chain shut; newer ones are much harder. However, that doesn't prevent the exterior from being chained shut.

I wonder how destructive 20 terrorists would be, armed like this young man, on 20 different institutes of higher education and how effective they could be on taking out the "brain trust" of America.

This young man was described as a loner -- how many of the other shooters have been described as such?

I can't blame the police -- they thought the original shooting was a domestic dispute. Personally, I would think that as well. We have heard all the cries for gun control. I would agree that they need to be regulated more, but I fear gun control that stems from mass hysteria. Reactionary rule-making doesn't take into account unforeseen consequences.

I remember my first year of teaching, oh so long ago. There was a standing rule about having safety glasses for all lab classes. The computers were in a "lab" hence, I was issued safety glasses and told that all students were to wear them during "lab." The rule had been reactionary when made and did not, could not foresee all possible interpretations of "lab."

I'm just in shock and full of sadness.