I sat in disbelief tonight as I watched the news about yet another school shooting spree at one of our nation’s campuses of higher education.  It really is horrifying to think that our church’s, places of business and schools are not free from horrible and senseless violence such as this.  The nature of college is such that it is an institution of not only higher learning but a safe haven to explore new thoughts, to research and discover new things and to do so in a manner that is safe, structured, moderated and growth oriented.  But today proves yet again that safety is merely an illusion we allow ourselves to communally share.  

I think back to not long ago to the University of Florida student who was publicly tasered and the ridicule our media and several of our fellow students heaped upon those officers. Fortunately the campus police in this situation did arrive quickly, those same kind of men and women who just months ago were the ridicule of so many talking heads and pundits on television.  Those same men and women who were called “glorified rent-a-cops”, those same men and women who were dismissed as not being professional enough to make it as “real police officers”.  Those same men and women who ran towards the gunshots while everyone else attempted to run away.

I think back to the shooting that took place at Virginia Tech and wonder if we learned anything from that tragedy?  I know that over the next two weeks or so the media will go into deeply analyzing what went wrong, were there precursors, warning signs and of course eventually someone will be blamed other than the shooter himself.  The reality however is we as a society have one of two choices, either proactive security complete with metal detectors, ID badges, fences, walls and segmented campuses or a quick and efficient reactionary system.  Unfortunately the freedoms that a quick and efficient reactionary system will bring will also have a human cost, as there must be something to react to.  In a case like this, 2 minutes was all it took for the gunman to fire and strike 18 students killing 5.

For now, my prayers will go to the families and students at Northern Illinois University.