“This stuff doesn’t happen here at Chardon.” The news report quoted a student as saying.  The report then went on to mention a litany of where it does happen, including all the events burned into our collective memories and ending with the terrifying 2006 Amish attack. If anyone had a right to say it doesn’t happen here, it was the Amish girls.
I remember that when I worked at Harvard we had a flu epidemic. One of the students was quoted as saying: “This shouldn’t happen. Especially at Harvard.” I wondered if there was a force field around the campus that I didn’t know about.
There are no force fields around anywhere. Wasn’t that the message of 9/11? None of us can assume that a location, be it school, home, or even airplane, is completely safe.
But while we mourn for the families at Chardon, let us all realize that it isn’t paranoia we need. It’s awareness of the connectedness of everything today. We need to reach out to strangers, make connections with each other. More than ever we need to take responsibility for our lives and our neighbors.
The early reports of this tragedy say that the gunman tweeted his intentions before coming to the school. If that is the case, there was no reason for him to have made it as far as school grounds. We live in a world where he could have been located via GPS and restrained. If someone had taken him seriously.
Related articles
- Shooting at Chardon High (livesharp.org)
- Breaking News: Officials Evacuate Students Following Shooting At Ohio High School (bossip.com)
- Shots Fired At Chardon High School, Gunman Now In Custody (wncx.radio.com)
- Four students shot at Ohio high school (news.blogs.cnn.com)
- Breaking: School Shooting, Chardon High Near Cleveland, OH (stevehuff.wordpress.com)
- School Shooting At Chardon High School; At Least 4 Injured (wdok.radio.com)
- School Shooting (kneeltochrist.org)
- Suspect Arrested In Ohio High School Shooting (pittsburgh.cbslocal.com)
- Live Stream: Coverage And Updates Of Ohio School Shooting (mediaite.com)
- Ohio high school students injured in shooting (guardian.co.uk)
Alternative Holistic Health Answers 
Hello- I just came across your post. This line stood out to me, and I think it’s great. Do you believe the people there have done this? –> “We need to reach out to strangers, make connections with each other. More than ever we need to take responsibility for our lives and our neighbors.”
I unfortunately don’t, but I know that we really have to have that sort of return to community.