(HUTCHCC ALERT!): Make change, don’t lay blame

I am angry. 

No. I’m furious. And no one gets to tell me it’s unwarranted anymore. I am tired of hearing people harp on my generation for giving a shit about our lives.

I was sitting in the hallway in Lockman Hall, waiting for my next class to start when a professor came by and asked for me and a few other students to come into his classroom due to a bomb threat to our campus. 

It was surreal, and my first reaction was “is this for real or is this a drill?” because it is normal for us to have drills for shooters and bombs. I think it’s common to have this “it will never happen to me” mentality, and yet it had the potential to happen today. 

Several students were huddled into the same classroom as me and none of us knew exactly what was happening. None of us had been alerted except for the professor. 

We watched the parking lot from the window of an upstairs classroom as cops with rifles and dogs scoured the parking lot. We watched as people pulled in unknowingly, just ready to go to their classes as normal. I called my cousin to tell her not to start walking to class, and she had no idea that any of this was going on. 

Here’s the kicker – none of us were panicking. At least, not externally. You could tell people were nervous but there were several conversations being held about text messages between them and other students. People saying that it was a hoax, others saying that this wasn’t all that uncommon for them to have their safety threatened at a school. Jokes were being passed around, even I myself made a couple of comments in regard to getting blown up. We were instructed to “shelter in place”, and the irony of staying calm inside of a building that could potentially be the target of said bomb was another joke.

That is what it has come to. Joking about being blown up because it’s better than panicking. Joking about dying because none of us were surprised that this was happening. I think I speak for most students when I say I am no longer wondering “if” something will happen, I am wondering “when” will it happen. It very well could have been today … and we were all at terms with that. 

I texted my parents to let them know there had been a threat and a lockdown. A thought raced through my head. Will I be able to hug them and tell them that I love them again? I pushed it away though. I had no clue how serious this was and I wasn’t going to panic yet. However, I’ll probably get called out for admitting that. People are going to tell me that “it wasn’t that serious” and that I had no reason to be thinking about that sort of thing. Maybe nervously joking about it feeds into that viewpoint. I don’t know. All I do know is that no one tells you that in these situations, no one really knows how to act. 

That is our reality now. Not knowing. Nobody wants to talk about it because it’s uncomfortable. When people do talk about it, it usually ends up in an argument over who’s right and wrong or what side is to blame.

I am tired of what this world has come to. Stop giving excuses. This bullshit of “oh kids these days” is no longer valid. Bad people are bad people. That’s who we need to blame. Do not blame the gun. Do not blame the bomb. Do not blame it on sexual orientation or political views. Those are excuses. 

Blame the person with malicious intent. That’s it. That is the problem. Everyone is so quick to take these instances and use them to blame others instead of looking at the issue at hand.

Carly Thompson is a Buhler sophomore studying psychology. She is the Collegian’s Editor In Chief.

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