Some people have a will to live and some a will to die. The stronger of the two will usually win when they come into conflict. In the case of the Virginia Tech massacre, the students who died were in a state of conflict with an armed lunatic. His will was much more powerful than theirs.
And the Washington Post carried a story citing students who had been in the classrooms that were attacked. “I quickly dove under a desk,†Clay Violand, a Virginia Tech junior, told the Post. “That was the desk I chose to die under.â€
Violand listened as the gunman began “methodically and calmly†shooting people. “It sounded rhythmic-like. He took his time between each shot and kept up the pace, moving from person to person.†After every shot, Violand said he thought to himself, “Okay, the next one is me.†But shot after shot, and he felt nothing. He played dead.
“The room was silent except for the haunting sound of moans, some quiet crying, and someone muttering: ‘It’s OK. It’s going to be OK. They will be here soon,’ †he recalled. “The gunman circled again and seemed to be unloading a second round into the wounded. Violand thought he heard the gunman reload three times.â€
Marc Danzinger thinks doctrine is to blame for the slaughter.
Similarly, the discussions around the responses of the students seem to imply those of us who are suggesting the students could have done other things that may have changed the outcome are blaming the students.
No, we’re not. We’re blaming the doctrine the victims were trained to operate under, and arguing that we — all of us — should rethink it and start implementing other ones, just as airline passengers and police officers have.
We need to be teaching people a new doctrine, one that neither leads them into fantasies that they are more capable than they really are, nor into believing that they are helpless and must lay down waiting to be killed while muttering “It’s OK. It’s going to be OK. They will be here soon.â€
I am going to pound this into peoples’ heads, because few others seem willing. One guy, two guns. Reloads three times. Not one student attacks during the reloading. Come on. You pick up something heavy, and you smash him in the face with it. If just 10% of the students being murdered had that kind of will, that kind of determination, then the number of victims would have been much lower. Yes, I’m insensitive. Get over it. If being insensitive causes even one person to stand up for his or her own existence during a moment of crisis it will be worth it.
There are two survival choices in situations of life and death conflict, fight or flight. We need to teach our citizens both options so that they are not paralyzed and helpless in times of unexpected crisis.