It is important to keep in mind not to create an environment at home where a child is made to watch voilent images on TV which reports these news obsessively.

Imagine a home where the parents don't watch News on TV while their children are around.

These violent images and emotional outbursts on TV means that the children not only ask questions but
they have a negative impact on the child's natural growth.

Why don't you just turn on PBS. Children then don't ask disturbing questions on disturbing content.

For a different perspective imagine n Amish home where there is no access to TV. What sort of questions will the child asks then?

These are the real questions a parent needs to reflect upon.

Mommy, what's a bomb?
- a useless device, designed by retarded people,
to use on retarded poeple, the intent was pain, hurt, and money, stay away

why did that boy shoot all those people?
- that's a karmic question, very complicated, he was hurt by other people,

If God is always watching, why do bad things happen to good people?
- to life and learn, my dear, but if you ever get into some trouble(s) here was somebody, who said; 'To the best students, go the most difficult leasons'~ quote from Neale Donald Walsh blog

love, passion, marek

"These are hard topics. How do we make our children feel secure, safe and loved, but also speak truthfully and work through difficult issues together?"

It is not good to pretend the problems or issues don't exist. You are right, Mallika, about the need to speak truthfully and the need to show our children that difficult issues can be talked about. I told my son, who is eleven, about the incident when he got in the car after school Monday because I wanted him to hear it first from me and not the news. I also wanted him to feel comfortable knowing that he can talk to me about it. Right or wrong to some, we did watch some things on the news TOGETHER. We cannot raise our children in a bubble (no matter how much I might like to this day in age.)

While these moments have shown me the difficulties of parenting and knowing what to say or not to say, they've also opened the door to discussions that may otherwise have not taken place. This week I have had heartfelt conversations with my son about pain, loss, fear, compassion, forgiveness and love. As he has gotten out the car the last two mornings for school I've asked him what he can do this day to make the world a better place. "Be kind and have love in my heart for everyone. Oh yeah, and think peace. Bye mom, gotta go."

With Much Love and Peace to you this day, Melissa

'How do we make our children feel secure, safe and loved, but also speak truthfully and work through difficult issues together?'

Good question, Mallika, my best answer, sue the UN, it's a budget/Ego thing, a mission impossible? I don't believe in..

Here's my Polish prescription:
1. Solidarity
2. Know who with/to
3. Give, just for the heck of it
4. You only live once
5. Watch that liver, detox regullary
6. Fuck the spelling, translation
&. Get sued, great fun

the rest are details,

Love, passion, marek

Mallika, what would you do in a such situation?

"At Rivermill, a downtown restaurant, one patron objected strongly when the restaurant turned its television to NBC because she didn't want her 9-year-old daughter to see it."

"We turn her face away from the TV" to shield her as much as possible from news of the shootings, said Teresa McCartny of Blacksburg, her voice rising."

(Excerpts from the news item below)

Would you allow your child to see these things so that the child would ask you questions so that you can answer these questions truthfully, which of course the child won't understand?

*************

Campus community reacts to Cho's words

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/virginia_tech_video_reaction;_ylt=AoYszNrspEgjCCQB9Xq8LCCs0NUE

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer 43 minutes ago

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The chilling images of the gunman who was responsible for the massacre at Virginia Tech silenced crowds near campus as they played on television screens.

Aloha Mallika

A self loving mother has self loving children. Loving is a process that allows pushing and pulling. Are you familiar with the Chinese finger puzzle? It is made of woven bamboo tube and you place your first fingers in each end. When you try to pull your fingers out, both at the same time or one at a time the bamboo tightens. It is only when you relax are you able to pull your fingers out. It is all allowed. And allowing is a skill.

Being a mother we push and pull our children to us and away from us all the time. They quickly follow our behavior with us and their siblings or friends. What is wrong with saying, "I don't know? But I do know when I push you away it is to touch you with love as soon as I can. A bomb is something that pushes everything away where it is physically impossible to touch with love as soon as you can." Children understand what we aren't saying clearer than what we do say. It is to get clear ourselves so we don't resonate the fear. In knowing I am the bomb, I quickly become I am.

Schools are prisons because they equate right to reality. it is ok not to have the answers. It is to welcome the unknown. Neale Donald Walsh did a wonderful Children’s book. In fact if you haven’t read his Conversation with God books he is a pretty good read. You might want to check him out. He actually had a pretty good solution to the world’s economy in his second book.

love patty

The answers we give our children depend on where we ourselves are on our journey.

A parent who is afraid, who sees this world as a dangerous place, who feels threatened by terrible things impossible to predict, will have a hard time making his/her children feel safe, secure and loved... without lying. It will be natural for this parent to buy more guns and build fences around both home and heart.

To be truthful when we teach our children that they are always safe and loved, we first have to discover ourselves that this IS the truth. We ARE safe and loved, no matter what. Life IS a safe, loving place to be in. Things happening around us, even the most hideous crimes, ARE an expression of love, even if heavily filtered and distorted by beliefs in our beloved brothers' minds. But we still SEE the love, we still feel safe in this love. We know that nothing is dangerous, not even death. Not even suffering.

When we can see all this with our own eyes, without a trace of a doubt, only then we can tell our children with sincerity that they are always safe and loved.

We haven't had a TV at home for the last seven years. Is there good stuff on TV? Sure there is. Do our children love cartoons and other shows? Yes they do and we do rent DVDs and take them to moveies when we can. But in general, TV is trash and the more I watch it when I am traveling, the more I am convinced.

Even if you can find a gourmet meal in a trash can, would you eat it? (paraphrased quote from Stephen Covey).

Ravi Kulkarni

Hello Mallika and Everyone,

We are always explaining what things are and why things are to children and the best was is to do it pretty matter of fact. The way you explain to them about crossing streets, not playing with matches. You give them the goods without giving them the fear of crossing a street, without fear of ever striking a match.

I never told my children that a God was watching over them or us all the time. I explained that I believed in a God and shared some stories about different beliefs about God but really I told them God was a mystery and no one really knew, for sure, knowing that as they grew they would explore, for themselves, life and God. Which they have and it is pretty much an equal opportunity God view, taking in lots of different perspectives. I, really, never wanted to hand a God to my children packed in a neatly wrapped box, probably becuase I didn't have the box to fit the mystery. Besides, mysteries are so much more exciting and more fun to have to solve.

have a great day ruth.

Hello Mallika and Everyone,

While I was waiting for my coffee to brew this morining I caught a Doctor on Good Moring America pleading with the news broadcasters to stop showing Cho's videos, that it was a perversion to do so and would only be harmful.

I must admit I wanted to see it last night but after seeing it I agree it should not be shown anymore, and, really, I wonder if it should have been shown at all and to be honest I do not think it should. These kinds of peverse videos need to be handed over to authorities for criminal purposes but otherwise they should not be used by the general public, at all. They offer nothing, really, but to feed our curiosity, which, I, admit, in my case doesn't really need to be fed, I would survive quite well without having seen Cho's sick and disturbing videos.

Thank you Doctor so and so, hope everyone listens!

ruth

The answer to the questions is.

Because the world subscribes to fictions.

As for the media they would be best to destroy the fictions that lead to these events rather than propagating more.

They should be asking where is the Love?

There is no moral obligation to LOVE, your free to suffer as long as you want.

And I stood before the throne at the end of the day, and a voice permeated my head space.

Did you live the truth today or did you support the world’s fictions?

Evil is a fiction born of fiction.

The truth is I am and so are you, separate we are not, as one I AM and everyone.

Aloha Mallika

Your children mirror your subconscious. You are part of the media. They see the images you see and talk about. The reporter is the greatest thief. We are walking stories. Birth and death are opposites but toallity is the opposite life. We are all learning to live life on life terms by drawing a circle around what excludes us. That is where the Love is. love patty

I posted my thoughts on early entry and thought some of it applies here as well. I appoligize for the length but I wanted to cover as many bases I could.

I am not sure why I feel so strongly compelled to comment. I was really looking for answers or comments on this tragedy by Deepak himself. I am puzzled about why I have NOT heard anything from him about what has happened at VT. George W of all people has had more to say publicly then Deepak Chopra. Perhaps he has spoken about this incident on his satellite radio show. We know your a profit Deepak spelled profit, how about some free advice for humanity on this one? It was interesting to find threads started from what I can see is his daughter. Thank you for starting this thread. It shows that you are not out of touch with what is going on in our current manifested state of reality. However it irritates me that you and your father start topics and NEVER interact or comment on what other people write or say good or bad. I don't know about the other folks, but I have come seeking answers. I can give my perspective about what I think I know, and how I came to it. If I am misguided why not tell me so, and further more why not tell the other posters the same?

I see some really warped thinking in a few poster comments, that in the grand scheme of things is how we all end up with such !@#$ up events like the VT massacre and that Amish school incident. But I never see that pointed out by Deepak in his other blogs or message board postings, and I have not seen any return comments by Mallika on her post here either. Most often the dialogue is from other posters,... some I feel are very thoughtful and come from the light of truth, while others are just way off the mark, and are harmful to themselves and are part of the grand problem.

The best way I can explain how or why this or any of these any horrific events occur, is kind of simple but very complicated. I have come to these conclusions reading some of Deepak's books and listening to his interviews among other spiritual sources. It would appear to me that SEPARATION is the source of the problem. I have come to the conclusion that the Human Ego wants to judge, label, separate, classify, categorize, isolate, value or devalue everything it interacts with. A separation from it's original source. (Energy) (God) -- There I go labeling :-)

I can remember all through my school years from elementary through collage nothing mattered more then what other people or entities thought of you. and I think the same holds true today. Are you a ABCDF student. things like the clothes you wore, Show and tell, the cool bike you had, or do you look better then so and so, who's the strongest. Who can beat up who in fight. People ranging from adults to other kids, Parents, Teachers, School administrators, Coaches, Government standards are always judging you. And if you didn't score well, you are either told, or felt like you didn't fit the mold, you were sub-par, odd, a failure, special or different.

I have often heard it said that children are innocent. I am sorry to say that from my own experience and reflecting on them, children can be just hateful or mean and intolerant as adults can, and they do NOT need to learn it from there parents. I am no expert but I believe it stems from the human condition of separation, and fear. Children have emotions and may NOT be aware of why they have them. It's all a chemical imbalance of sorts that may be corrected with medications, but it also may be corrected through therapy or spiritual self awareness. Thoughts and environment are all factors on ones mood or emotions. A concerned parent can be aware of a child's behavior and choose to correct or tolerate it. But it is no guarantee that that child will NOT be the next monster of society. Jeffrey Dahmer and the Uni Bomber all have other siblings that can be considered normal to our societies standards.

Separation is why we have designer labels, it is why we have different social classes of people, rich people, poor people, middle class people, It is why we have democrats, and we have republicans, It is why we have genocide in Dar-fur, It is why instead of different races living amongst one another as humans, they choose to have clubs or gangs and culture that support their interests. It is why I believe organize religion is just another form of separation and often is the cause of war, and intolerance of the truth. Although jesus was trying, the Jews killed him for being different,...... or was it the Romans,..... I dunno, maybe he lived in quite solitude in hiding, but the heat was on him for his ideas and he was thought to be differnent.

When it comes down to it , basically it's one people's set of ideas that opposes with other people's ideas that create the separation and all of it in different forms. Ideas are NOT real, it is the value we place on them that make them real. The ideas manifest a physical or emotional presence to our reality. According to Deepak we need a new paradigm of thinking. and I think it is one that makes us all aware that we are all one, that we came from the same place. If this is true, and think it may be. it brings new meaning to the term you don't !@#$ where you eat. Don't do harmful things to others, because you are only harming yourself. Treat others with respect cause that is what you want for yourself. We are all one. You wouldn't cut your own arm on purpose would you? Unfortunately there are some who do. What great pain and guilt one's ego must have to harm one's self or others like this kid has done. What state of unconsciousness has his pain created for himself and now others?

To view everything in our reality as one, would be extremely difficult for many swallow. The whole identity or EGO of the mind that thinks we are separate would be smashed. It is very confusing at times for myself. For everything to be seen as one and that we are all dreaming this reality collectively would take the purist of consciousness. Only true pure consciousness perhaps on the scale Jesus or Budda himself can see or live life in this perspective. For anyone to achieve this state or level consciousness one would not be bothered to react the way most of us do from of our emotions. The Hate, Anger, thoughts of Revenge, and Fear are all tricks our EGO plays to keep us separate and away to keep us from believing we are all one. To keep us unconscious.

I believe this is the sick twist and fundamental problem with the human condition and what we believe is our reality. The constant state of being in or out of consciousness. Often what is portrayed in the media and is experienced through our 5 senses good or bad is from a state of unconsciousness. My Ego wants to view this kid as some punk a$$ b@#$ who thought he would get even with all of us, or his perceived enemies by following through with this complete senseless selfish violent act. It would be less then honest for me to say that I don't fantasize or wish that I was there to intercept his attack, stomping and crushing every bone his body. Often I think of just how far he'd gotten if I , or just one person with a gun where there to put him down. Even if I were to miss every shot, or I was to wound him, he would NOT have had free reign and control over the situation. I'm being some what censored about the images in my mind. And yes! It makes feel sick, It Angers me so greatly, and sometimes I start to cry. That is the impact this person has made on me and I wasn't even there.

These are not exactly the thoughts we want to have if we want positive things to happen in our lives. Negative thoughts can manifests things just like positive ones can. Having been a life long, and now former pessimist, I don't need anymore negative energy then what life unexpectedly has to offer. I do have some conscious choice as to what I want to bring into it. For one I don't particular enjoy the entertainment that glorify any humans silly negative ego attributes (American Idol, The Apprentice), and media with pointless gratuitous violence. Shock for the sake of shock is NOT entertaining in my book. But I do enjoy such films as Brave heart, Gladiator, and Kingdom of Heaven that contain violence. Unfortunately things like VT happen, and I'm sorry to say that I think they will continue to happen unless we as the human race can see that we all come from that same source.

I find people will not seek a better way unless there in great pain. People tend not to seek a spiritual solution until they hit a bottom of some kind as I once did. Sadly some do not move in this direction and they do what this person has done, or just kill themselves. I have personally experience isolation, both caused from myself and from others. It only fuels the anger and rage inside. I don't know why it happens this way, but if things like this are the catalyst for people seeking the answer for real truth, love, and peace, does that mean can we never really be without pain and suffering? Did this SOB give us a gift to make us seek the truth? I can see how that perspective would frustrate most people, and it does me. It is sad to say that more often then not, though pain we are lead to enlightenment. Is our very existence based on the balance of positives and negatives? It would appear everything we experience in our reality consists of a balance of positive and negative energy, and that is what atoms are made of. With out the positive, negative would not exist and vice versa. Is this why we have duality?

I'm not here to get into the gun debate, I wish we lived in a reality that guns did not exist. For such a reality to exist everyone would need live and understand life from this one source. I am not sure if this is even possible in our current state of existence. Right now we have various kinds of individuals, people, groups, cultures with different kinds of agendas and perspective. Allot of them think that their way is the only way, and some are more then willing to kill themselves and you to make their point. To sit there and make statements that "Guns Kill People", and "Those damn legal or illegal immigrants are the cause of it all", or "it's all those violent american films", and "that dang rap music", are not on the mark, are ignorant statements and do NOT deal with problem at it's source. Even people kill people is not getting to the root of the problem, although it's close. It's unconscious people that kill people! The massive rape and murders in Africa are not caused by Video games, Rap Music, and American made movies. No one would commit these crimes if they realize they are hurting themselves and are in a true state of consciousness. The crimes in Africa are often committed by children who can't afford shoes let alone a DVD player. Ironically some how they have guns. How does that happen? Why do our leaders of the world turn a blind eye? Why is it so political to stop genocide? Because political leaders see themselves as SEPARATE from others.

I am not so sure that this particular individual was influenced in anyway with what american kids view as entertainment or is considered to be our violent pop culture of today. This person was basically on anti status rant and angry at the world. He more then likely isolated himself from what most kids of his age find entertaining. He mentions several biblical quotes in his manifesto. I found an erie similarity from his video confession, to that of islamic extremist suicide bombers, just before they are going to take innocent life. As we all know islamic extremist hate all american culture, and need no influence from the american entertainment media on how hate and be destructive.

If my opinion has any value, I'd like say what I find is the most destructive motivator of violence is. Nothing on this planet has been so more harmful and destructive to the human race by way of influence then organized religion. If we really want to learn as to why so many are willing to die or kill, it is somehow always linked the extremely distorted views of religious beliefs. Does that mean we close down the churches, synagogs, and mosques. Should we ban religion? No! Cause there is also the truth that a religion can be used for good, as long as it not to used to harm and shut out others. If the world were to be rid of guns today, nothing would change except how and maybe how often someone is murdered. The intent to kill and hate will still be there. People will use other means to kill people just as they did a couple 100 years before the invention of fire arms.

Pick up a history book and see how many thousands died in war in just one day fought with bows and arrows, or swords. I don't believe 911 occurred with the use of any firearms. To ban fire arms altogether would only give assurance to the bad guy with the fire arm, who just kicked in your front door, that YOU the person who's a good law abiding citizen won't have one. I am not for putting the odds in the bad guys favor, like it was for the VT gunman, and I don't own a gun! Most of the violent gun crimes in america are done by individuals who obtained the fire arms illegally, and are not licensed to carry a concealed weapon. A criminal with intent of being a criminal is going prey on the weak, and go where they have the most advantage. They are not going to go by the rule of law. That is why we call them criminals.

I hear it is a debatable that this student purchased these fire arms legally. I hear rumors he may of used a fake ID. However I would agree that more checks and balances may need to be put in place for individuals to purchase a gun. There where plenty of signs this was long coming. If the police and teachers of this student where concerned enough to get him counseling for out of fear of him hurting himself and others, it could have been posted to a national database and reviewed by gun dealers before the sale of a fire arm. Not to mention cross referencing finger print identification. This technology is here today and is available at a very nominal price compared to what we are dealing with now, the cost of 30+ lives. So many warning signs were apparently well documented by school and law enforcement, but they say they lacked any legal backbone to do anything about it. Just based on the limited information released as of today, I think they better review that policy; 30 some lives would be here today if they had found a way. It is a complete case of I told you so, and many are responsible for dropping the ball.

There are no black or white answers as to why a person chose to take this path. Unfortunately we are trying to make logical sense of the actions of someone with an illogical mind. A spiritually bankrupt body, and a sick, mentally ill EGO full of pain, and anguish. There are a series events that could have influenced this person onto the coarse he chose that could have well started out at birth. There are many to share the blame directly and indirectly if one wants cast blame.

It is important to point out that guns will never solve our problem of separation in the world. But they can prevent lose of life as well as take them. I am some what close to law enforcement and I have heard stories of law enforcement officers struck down because they chose not to draw their fire arm. It is a very, very, important fact that is becoming all to clear these days. Law enforcement can NOT and will NOT be there to protect you in time of need most of time. More often then not the crime or damage has already occurred once they arrive. Not only is that my conclusion or experience, that is what I'm told from close friends in the in the law enforcement field. I have personally lost a friend to a murder suicide. Police were called and they could not get there in time. However there were witness that could have stopped it if they were armed, or could get to a gun in some closet. At least the odds would have been in her favor. Your own survival and safety is ultimately your own responsibility. Burying your head in the sand and pretending bad things will never happen to you, and that the rule of law will be there to stop bad things from happening to you, is sure fire way of making yourself a victim. Ultimately you can not live your life in complete fear, or think the worst will always happen. But I always make myself aware of my surroundings and use caution when necessary.

Further more I like to say, protecting my own life or self from harm is my god given rite. It is my responsibility to make the choice of what is best for me. It will NOT and can NOT be regulated by any rule of law other then fate. If I choose to purchase a firearm or any other weapon for my protection, no one has the right to tell me I can't, unless they have a solid reason to suspect I am of danger to myself or someone else. Self preservation is personal responsibility and I wouldn't expect someone else to do it for you. Like it or not this is the reality we exist in.

Thank you - and peace to you all

Aloha Michael

I have heard the young man who did the shooting was on prescription drugs. Do you know how many children are on Ritalin. Have noticed the drug commercials on TV? We are a nation of Pharm Animals. Life is about creating not destroying. We will all die, we don’t know when or how, but we will die. The skill is staying with the feelings, within the moment of uncertainty resonating love and kindness.

Check out the histories of those who have killed in schools and prisons and I bet you will find that they are under some kind of mind-altering drug…. Look at the women who kill their children. Drugs just put walls up. Guns don’t kill. It is just not to have them available to a culture that medicates themselves and others, to ease the fear of not being here. Our safety lies in our defenselessness.

Love patty

Aloha Michael

Here is a site that shares about Prozac: http://members.aol.com/atracyphd/index.htm love patty

Hello Mallika and Everyone,

Cho, it appears, was a deeply disturbed child with communication problems starting at a very early age. The question is whether he was ever diagnosed as a young child before he came to this Country at eight years of age and after his arrival. Fellow students from way back to his middle school years say he never communicated with others then, was always alone. It seems he may have just recently been perscribed those drugs since his recent time spent in a mental hospital.

Here was a boy who didn't talk to anyone, was always alone and went from middle school to college apparently without anyone really confronting this totally emotionally and socially isolated young person.

This is truly a case of one extremely lost boy living in very plain sight of everyone from the age of 8 to 23. It seems as though his peers knew him, saw him, understood that he was disturbed but where the heck were all the adults in his world..What.. did they just let him get away with a great science paper even though his verbal communication consisted of a grunt or two a year...mind boggling..I just keep picturing this 8 or 9 or ten year old child, unable to communicate and trying to manuever his way around a brand new Country, a brand new language, and a brand new school filled with hundreds of other kids his age, alone. REally, it is heartbreaking.

ruth

Mallika Chopra writes:

"Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us."

What I don't understand is that why should the family be sorry for Cho's actions. I can understand if they are sorry for those who suffered

If Cho's family thinks that they are somehow responsible, I say, American society and VA Tech are equally responsible.

VA Tech should say sorry for its students unspeakable actions.

President Bush should say sorry for an immigrant's unspeakable actions.

Mallika. Here's your answer : "Such Evil is incurable"

Please read this article which makes interesting points:

The Blacksburg tragedy is not the sign of a sick society

Such evil is incurable, and we owe it to the victims not to inflate the problem by ascribing it to some greater malaise

Simon Jenkins
Wednesday April 18, 2007
The Guardian

The global image of the American school was once of wholesome youths laden with books and cheerleader pompoms. More recently it has become one of over-armed and overweight policemen racing to take up firing positions while students run screaming with terror.

My first response to Monday's horror at Blacksburg, Virginia, was please, let it not be an Arab. The particular would instantly have become general and a madman a terrorist. Such is the degradation of public response to violence these days that nothing is allowed to be what it probably is, the random act of a mind deranged. It must be a sign of war and subject to the language of war.

Even so, the response of many who wish America ill will have been gratuitous schadenfreude. They see a people who live by the gun also dying by it, be they marines in Anbar province or students in Virginia. The rifle lobbyist who said on Monday that the college massacre would not have happened if all the students had been armed embodied the macho ethos which George Bush is seen as willing on the world. How can American soldiers disarm Iraqi families of their weapons in Baghdad yet claim the right to arm themselves to the teeth back home?

Britons whose links with America are long and close (and in my case familial) always find themselves pleading the same cause. First, we scrupulously proclaim the standing of America as a world exemplar of political freedom, though this has become a sort of Hail Mary, recited before yet another pro/anti-American argument. Then we beg Americans to step outside their continent and see themselves as others do.

At the moment of the Blacksburg massacre, a broadcast interview with the former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, asked by what right America imposed its "values" by force on foreign states. Bolton did not even try to answer. He jeered, "Try and stop us." I am sure, like his neoconservative confreres, he thought the reply smart and macho. Such people seem blind to the damage their arrogance does to America's image, interest and, ultimately, security abroad. It feeds those who react to Blacksburg, as to 9/11, with "America had it coming".

Whenever I see incidents such as Blacksburg I try to apply the doctrine of proportional response. They are exceptionally rare and unpredictable. Britain's tough gun control did not prevent the Hungerford or Dunblane massacres. More American children (some 3,000) may die by gunfire each year than the death toll on 9/11, far more than in any other developed country. This may be a function of a migratory society or an unstable community, though it is hard to dissociate it from lax gun laws. But it remains America's choice and America's business.

Meanwhile, Britain would do well to contemplate the soaring use of guns and knives on its streets. If the image of the American school is of armed policemen, that of Britain's inner cities is of grieving mothers and weeping girls laying wreaths on pavements. British policy on alcohol and drug abuse is more catastrophic in its consequences than in any other country, and is more lethal than America's gun laws. Barely a week passes without a report condemning the government's refusal to repeal the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, largely because of Tony Blair's fear of the press. His failure lies at the root of urban crime, social dislocation and prison overcrowding. The unregulated drugs market is ruled by violence as ruthlessly on the streets of London as in the fields of Helmand. Yet all Blair can do is tell the black community to "own up" to it.

The truth is, we are better at lecturing others than reforming ourselves. The spectacle of both military occupiers of Iraq making such a hash of law and order in their own backyards plays into the hands of anti-western propaganda. Those seeking to radicalise Islam watch television. Their communities may have their problems, but they can fall back on a degree of piety and social cohesion that puts most westerners to shame. Most Islamic states may not have signed Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independence, but that is their choice. Very few either seek or are remotely able to impose their values on the west. The west, in the shape of Britain and America, not only desires to impose its values on them but is doing so by force. It is no surprise they cheer when we get a bloody nose.

The result has created a dire moral equivalence. Blair's "values crusade" is depicted as paralleling al-Qaida's jihad. The suicide car bomb is "the poor man's F-16". A kidnapped journalist answers Guantánamo Bay. Britain's Trident legitimises Iran's nuclear enrichment. It is no good analysts protesting that such parallels are trite. The one choice the strong cannot deny the weak is that of facile comparison. International relations since 9/11 have suffered a debased rhetoric drained of sensible meaning. Violence deratiocinates political debate.

This week the development secretary, Hilary Benn, pleaded for linguistic arms reduction. In particular, he wants to ban the "war on terror" as elevating disparate gangs and giving them political credibility as part of some notional global movement. Benn, who comes late to this insight, might have turned his attention to home. Treating criminals as terrorists and mobsters as warriors flatters not just their egos but also those of ministers. Modern government has been polluted by the language of war. Blair's ministers have declared as many wars as his generals, against terrorism, drugs, truancy, knives, poverty and homelessness. For the hard grind of social policy, ministers can waffle about tsars, campaigns, trumpets and drums. Inflating the problem excuses the failure to solve it.

The tragedy at Blacksburg, like those in London and other cities assaulted by bomb, bullet and knife, was apparently the manifestation of a distorted soul unable to live at peace with the world. Such evil is incurable, which is why such tragedies will continue to happen. The least we owe them and their victims is not to exaggerate their significance by implying that they are signs of a sick society or, worse, that they are wars against which armies can be mobilised.

The most present threat to the "homeland security" of urban Britons is specific. It is the collapse of discipline in their immediate neighbourhoods and the growth of gangs and drug-related violence worse than anywhere else in Europe. That does not mean war. As at Blacksburg, it means that when politicians lack courage, policy goes wrong and someone dies. It is as simple as that.

simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,2059699,00.html

Hello Mallika and Everyone,

I have great sympathy for what Cho's family is going through right now.

I am not familiar with Korean culture so I do not know how they recognize or deal with children with developmental problems. Cho's sister said he was quite and reserved. Did they not realize the extent of his behavioural and communication problems, which started in early childhood and continuted to his last dying day? Was this boy ever diagnosed by any Doctors in his childhood
years? It is obvious, even, from what little that has come out about Cho, that he was a boy in desparate need of medical intervention
from early on, yet, there is no mention except for what happened in 2005 at college.

Cho's sister writes,"He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare."

I guess I keep wondering about Cho, as a child, alone, in his isolation, unable to understand himself, I wonder how often he would weep and what it was like to live his nightmare, so completely alone, in the midst of everyone.

I guess I just can't understand, I just keep asking where were the adults in his world. I guess I am wondering how this boy made it through middle school and high school being as uncommunicative and socially and emotionally isolated as he apparently was without serious intervention by the adult community around him..

still perplexed.

ruth

Hello Mallika and Everyone,

going of subject of Cho but I think this story is realated in some way..

Did anyone hear Alec Baldwin's ragefull rant he left on his 11 year old daughter's voice mail? In his anger and rage he was calling his child an "ignorant pig." Anyway, it was pretty ugly.

The problem was in the reporting of it..people were saying well, on Alec's behalf it was really the fault of the custody battle he has been going through, not really, his fault, meaning, yes, it was terrible, but he didn't really mean it.

I am amazed, dumbfounded. This man rages at his daughter becuase she is not taking his call by calling her the most horrible names and blaming all his rage, in the moment, on her and her mother. SHE makes him feel like a fool, it is HER fault he feels so bad and on and on. So, Alex is not responsible for his feelings at all, apparently. No, he has no control issues, no anger issues, no issues at all except for the ones brought upon him by his ex-wife and daughter!

This man's anger was so scarry, that I feared for my own well being, just listening to it..Alec Baldwin has some very serious problems with control and anger that have nothing whatsoever to do with anyone and I hope he has some "friends" in the Hollywood Community that have the courage to point it out to him instead of handing him a crying towel out of their cowardice. In my opinion Alec Baldwin needs serious professional intervention or there could very well be another tragedy in our news.

just had to mention that..

gotta go now, have a great weekend everyone ruth

Aloha Ruth

My best friend is Korean. Koreans are very colorful. It is like Joseph Campbell in sharing about the Irish, where one would ask, "Whose fight? Can I join in?" I don't know if you saw the humble dwellings in Korea where the grandmother lived. Bush better be careful when dealing with North Korea because they are very vibrant and impulsive. It was the Chinese who were able to reason with North Korea. Koreans are as different as the Irish are to the English and Scotts. They can’t be bullied. The young man was finishing up his master degree in English. I can only imagine how repulsive the US’s capitalism is to someone from a country ridiculed from poverty.

And Aloha Janet

I enjoyed reading Simon Jenkins article. And I agree the US and England have to learn to incorporate the ideals in practice before projecting them out to other countries. If you know the story of the turtle and rabbit, China is the turtle and the US is the rabbit. China is out distancing the US and England from a understanding of Taoism. Prophecy says they will be the police of the world. Love patty

Aloha

And just to add it is too bad Cho, when helped he was not taught how to look at the problem and go deep while having empathy for the other person/people. With compulsive and reactionary behavior we lock out the details that create the solution. It is a skill to trust the problem.

When we look at Bush we see an archetype that not only affects our country, he affects the whole world, just as Cho’s actions affected not only his self, but his family and his whole community. Our schools need to adopt programs of application, where the children, young adults taught to look inward when they have problems, where they don’t need to have their way. If Bush would have adopted new solutions for energy vs. oil, look how different the world would be today. Love patty

ref 22..

"Did anyone hear Alec Baldwin's ragefull rant he left on his 11 year old daughter's voice mail?"

is ragefull a word? never heard of it before! damn!

Mom, how do you know if you are going to die?

Making a Fist

For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.

"How do you know if you are going to die?"
I begged my mother.
We had been traveling for days.
With strange confidence she answered,
"When you can no longer make a fist."

Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.

Naomi Shihab Nye

***
Naomi Shihab Nye (born March 12, 1952) is a poet, songwriter and a novelist. She was born to a Palestinian father and American mother. Although she regards herself as a "wandering poet", she refers to San Antonio as her home.