Student placed stone in Cho's memory

[Wisdom_Seeker]

Student placed stone in Cho's memory

By UPI Staff

United Press International

April 27, 2007

 

BLACKSBURG, VA (UPI) -- A Virginia Tech senior has revealed that she was the person who added a 33rd stone to a memorial for the shooting victims, remembering the gunman.

 

Katelynn Johnson told the Virginia Pilot she counted the stones at the edge of the Drillfield two days after the April 16 shooting.

 

"I just lost it," she said. "I broke down. I was seething. I remember saying ... 'How could people be so mean?'"

 

Johnson, a Minnesota native majoring in psychology, and her boyfriend, Jim Keane, added the stone at 4 a.m.

More recently, the memorial has been reduced to 32 stones again, although Johnson said the one that was taken is not the one that she and Keane placed there in memory of Cho Seung-hui.

 

Johnson sent a letter to the student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, after learning that a stone had been taken away.

 

"We lost 33 Hokies that day, not 32," she wrote. "In my opinion, no life has less value than any other. Cho was a human being ... Who am I to judge who has value and who doesn't? I am not in that position. Are you?"

 

Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This young lady is quite right, Cho should have a stone placed in his memory...

[Alisomali]

She's a dork, why is she getting so butt hurt about someone not memorializing a killer

[Ebyan]

^You don't the demons this young man had to live with. He was a victim as well.

[Intuition]

He was sick.I feel for both him and his victims. Qadar Ilahay you can't stop that now can you.

[Alisomali]

Violet... Please spare me the liberal drivel, I understand that the man must have had traumatic psychological issues, and that led him to kill.

I still don't think ppl should memorialize him.

He was still a killer and the fact that he had a few screws unhinged doenst change the fact.

[Wisdom_Seeker]

^^^And why shouldn't he be remembered? He was a victim of bullying and American rudeness, which probably drove him crazy....

[ElPunto]

^Whoa. Ummm - he was a free-thinking human being who chose to massacre people because he was, umm, 'bullied' and he should be mourned by the public at large?

[Wisdom_Seeker]

^^^

 

This man had more troubling issues than merely being bullied. But I assume bullying has pushed him off the cliff. You don’t have to mourn for him, but he should be remembered for he too was a human being. His life wasn’t less important than the others who had lost their lives.

[Che -Guevara]

Originally posted by Wisdom_Seeker:

^^^And why shouldn't he be remembered? He was a victim of bullying and American rudeness, which probably drove him crazy....

Easy to say when it is not you that lost a brother, sister, a son, daughter or husband. Nothing justifies what he did to those people.

[Wisdom_Seeker]

Originally posted by Che-Guevara:

quote:Originally posted by Wisdom_Seeker:

^^^And why shouldn't he be remembered? He was a victim of bullying and American rudeness, which probably drove him crazy....

Easy to say when it is not you that lost a brother, sister, a son, daughter or husband. Nothing justifies what he did to those people.

I am well capable of forgiving, I have done it in the past. And those people aren't the only folks who have lost a loved one.

 

It isn’t a matter of justification, but viewing him as a HUMAN. No one is trying to justify his transgression.

[Che -Guevara]

No one is denying him of his humanity. Honoring him within the vicinity that was set up to memorialize those whom he murdered is however wrong. It is like eulogizing Hitler in Auswitch.

[Wisdom_Seeker]

Che

 

 

It was for those VT students who died, and he is one of the students. I think everyone agreed that Cho was mentally ill. He still should get his stone.

[Ebyan]

Alisomali;

 

Yes, he was killer, but he was also a victim. Did he not kill himself?

 

The fact that he had a psychological disorder is very important..It explains why he did what he did. This was a horrible tragedy and all the victims deserve to be remembered.