dookisevil

This evening, I was sitting here posting on CBS, and was horrified to hear on my local news that my alma mater, Appalachian State was under a LOCKDOWN. I immediately turned to the television, with my jaw dropped and listened. Then I went to the news station's website and then ASU's website for additional information. I called three people that I went to school with to let them know, they had no clue. We were all aware of the street and apartment complex that the gunman was spotted. Apparently, he was just a few blocks away from one side of campus, wearing a ski mask and he had a hand gun. From what I can gather, no shots were fired, and no one was reported injured. At the time of me writing this blog, the Lockdown has been lifted, but the gunman is still at large. You hear about these things on the news, but they are never so personal. THIS IS PERSONAL.

I remember when the Virginia Tech massacre happened last year, it was tragic and horrifying. A lot was learned from that sad day on protocols for universities, thankfully, today, Appalachian State had a plan in place and it was put in action, quickly. I remember sitting here posting and discussing campus safety after Virginia Tech. How a college campus, which used to be thought of as a haven, or a safe place, was now no longer that. I felt saddened that students would no longer walk freely on their campuses and would have to swipe id badges to gain access to buildings. Going to college is supposed to be about testing the water, expressing yourself, your freedom, and testing your boundaries. I want my son to have that experience when he goes to college in thirteen years or so, but will he?

It troubles me that our society has come to this, that this is how we have to protect our population, you are not safe anywhere, your children are not safe at school - but you hope that they will be, our young adults when they leave the nest and flock to college are not safe on their college campuses - but you pray that they will be, we aren't even safe when we shop at a local mall - but we go anyway, we aren't safe at a fast food restaurant - but we still frequent them. We can not succumb to the troubles of the few in our society, we need to continue to live and march forward, because if we coward behind the door of our homes and live in a shell, are we really living?