Referred to counseling
This article over on MSNBC brings up an important point about the Virginia Tech rampage by lonely (and loner) Cho Seung-Hui. At what point do we allow a person with morbid thoughts, expressed either in word - spoken or on paper to roam free?
A Virginia Tech professor said that Cho’s creative writing was so disturbing that she referred him to the school’s counseling service, but he would not go.
“I kept saying, ‘Please, go to counseling; I will take you to counseling,’ because he was so depressed,â€? said Lucinda Roy, the English Department’s director of creative writing. But “I was told [by counselors] that you can’t force anybody to go over … so their hands were tied, too.â€?
So, even with a particular idea that the young man was mentally disturbed, ‘the system’ was virtually helpless. I’m not advocating the thought police, but, clearly, something needs to charge.
Clues?
‘The Chicago Tribune reported on its Web site that he left a note in his dorm room that included a rambling list of grievances. Citing unidentified sources, the Tribune said he had recently shown troubling signs, including setting a fire in a dorm room and stalking some women.’
Even with these disturbing issues comng forth about the young man responsible for thirty-three deaths (counting his own)’ still nothing was done. Could he have received an intervention? If so, what kind? medical? legal? social?
In a civilized society, we always recoil at violence, preferring to sweep the problem under the rug until the next outbreak. Yes, its unpleasant to think that ‘our children are capable of such acts.
Hopefully, some meaningful dialog can now happen.
violence, writing, thought, deaths, Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hu
violence, writing, thought, deaths, Virginia Tech, Cho Seung-Hu
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