As I write, details are still unfolding about Monday’s shooting
at Virginia Tech.
As I write, details are still unfolding about Monday’s shooting at Virginia Tech.
It makes me wonder how safe we really are.
Here in San Benito County, we have seen an increase in drive-by shootings and other apparently gang-related violence. The fact that it is gang-related helps foster the impression for most of us that “it could never happen to me.”
Yet if a deranged person wanted to, there is really nothing stopping him or her from shooting up a supermarket or other store, or entering a large gathering, say at Bolado Park or the Veterans Building, and starting to fire.
And that’s just the way it should be.
True, in our community there are probably some people who’d have the courage and experience to tackle a shooter and limit the damage. People who’ve come back from combat, or even those who handle large animals on a regular basis might have the presence of mind to catch a shooter off guard.
But more importantly, we cannot guard against every danger without imprisoning ourselves.
I don’t want to go through a metal detector every time I enter or leave a store.
I certainly don’t want to have to take off my shoes and run them through an X-ray machine every time I go shopping. Yet that’s what we still do at airports, in response to that guy who smuggled explosives on board a plane in his sneakers.
Now, in response to a more recent alleged plot involving liquid explosives, we have to carry all on-board toiletries in a clear plastic bag.
We’re always one step behind while the bad guys are probably thinking up some new way to create a catastrophe.
In the meantime, the San Benito High School Parent Handbook spells out what is and is not permitted on campus. No drugs, no guns or other weapons, no clothing that might look like gang clothing, no assaults, no hate violence.
The school will even bring in drug-sniffing dogs if a “clear and present danger” of the presence of drugs is thought to exist.
It’s a lot of “no’s.” Students (who believe they are immortal) have chafed against some of the clothing regulations. They are creative at coming up with arguments about why they should be allowed to wear hats, or for that matter, what is and what is not an actual hat.
The student handbook says there are emergency drill and lockdown plans in place.
Nobody knows if these plans are adequate to limit damage from a suicidal maniac.
The irony is, there probably is no real security, unless you want to live your life in an underground bunker. And even then, your survival depends on access to air, water and food.
Here above ground, our real security is in each other. We may never be 100 percent safe from catastrophe – after all, even without armed sociopaths we have plenty to worry about with earthquakes, weather changes and potential insect infestations.
But we can still make each other feel safe, loved and cared about. We can help each other, whether it’s handing off a grocery cart or offering a shoulder to cry on. We can intervene if the mind or heart of a friend or acquaintance seems to be caught in ever-decreasing circles.
After all, it’s not really when we die, but how we live that makes the difference.
Elizabeth Gage’s column appears every Thursday in the Free Lance.
