A natural reaction is to pull back,, virginia Crime, stop going out, lock your doors, and just hunker down. I feel that is a mistake. We should get more involved in our respective neighborhoods. Reach out to your neighbors. Get to know them better, and let them know more about you. Maybe exchange contact phone numbers, including work, and our daily schedules, so anything out of the ordinary will be noticed.

Along the lines of an African proverb (the origin is arguable), “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child”, we do not live isolated, and we cannot survive isolated. Naturally, our family is definitely our first priority and the most important environment for a child, but the world beyond is equally important, and the first step outside our front door is our neighborhood.

It has also come to light that the shooter was basically advertising his frustration, and even his intentions to do what he did, on his blog for quite some time.

After the fact, we are finding that a lot of these people, remember, virginia Crime, the Virginia Tech shooter?, had been showing signs of their troubled lives over many years. What could have, virginia Crime, been done? I don’t think we should turn into a society of snooping on our neighbors and turning them over to the authorities any time we see one exhibiting strange behavior. I don’t think that behavior has changed as much as how the fabric of our society has changed.

There have always been strange people, and there will always be.

It’s society, or our sense of community that has changed. It has, virginia Crime, become so impersonal that nobody seems to notice or care about each other. There’s no acknowledgment or acceptance of these people. In other words, the stereotypical old west town always had their own town drunk,, virginia Crime, but everyone knew him and looked out for him, regardless of what they thought of his behavior. These people today have no place to “belong”. We have to get back to knowing and caring about our neighbors, for better and for worse.

If someone had cared about this man, or at least listened to him, maybe things would have been different. This sense of community is where this type of behavior should be recognized, acknowledged, and looked after. This won’t prevent all, or maybe even any of these senseless crimes, but at least there will be the attempt.

Coming together as a community is always good.