As the dust settles in Tucson after the tragedy that left six dead and 14 wounded a national conversation has started. Many have taken turns pointing fingers seeking a cause for the shooting; yet a satisfactory explanation has not been found.
As we reflect on the tragedy we recognize the moral imperative as people and the professional importance as members of the media in examining our own roles in preventing such tragedies. The media must be aware of its own deficiencies and work to make discourse as civil as possible. And as individuals we must be willing to make demanding decisions and be alert when we see classmates and colleagues who may need help. All of us have a responsibility to one another to look out for all of our best interests.
Through forums such as our own Perspectives we debate one another’s opinions and challenge decisions made by the leaders of our university our state and our nation. However as we practice our First Amendment rights we must not allow our dialectical discussions and thoughtful debate to turn into vitriol. We must present our opinions with self-restraint not indicting our counterparts for moral crimes or invoking violent imagery.
In President Obama’s speech at the memorial for the victims last Wednesday he said “As we discuss these issues let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame let’s use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations to listen to each other more carefully to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.”
As individuals and members of the Pepperdine community we must be aware of classmates who need help and do our part to make sure they are getting necessary assistance. We all have a responsibility to reach out to our fellow students and must make sure to talk to our friends RAs and SLAs to make sure classmates in need are not without a helping hand.
Fortunately for us all Pepperdine prioritizes the well-being of its students. Our mission statement affirms “that the student as a person of infinite dignity is the heart of the educational enterprise and that the quality of student life is a valid concern of the university.”
The administration does not express this creed vainly; they have taken many concrete steps to manifest it. Perhaps foremost among them was the decision last decade to make the Counseling Center free to all enrolled students. In this way any person can seek the comfort of professional help right on campus.
Often however those who need help most don’t seek it. This is where our college community comes to demand personal responsibility. The alleged Arizona gunman Jared Loughner is a 22-year-old who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. This disorder often onsets at the end of the teenage years. It’s not as if sheer love and compassion from his friends and family could have changed that fact. But it takes only a modicum of care to refer another human being to mental health professionals.
The Counseling Center gets referrals all the time. People already care about others enough to call in and ask if they’re seeing someone about their problems. This ought to be encouraged not to invade privacy but to literally save and enrich lives. After all we Pepperdiners affirm that each person is of infinite dignity.
Talking heads and commentators have debated whether or not this crime may have been politically motivated. We argue that if this is not a time for self-reflection will there ever be an appropriate time? Whether or not the alleged gunman Jared Loughner was motivated politically it is indisputable that national politics have turned hostile and we all must do our part to debate civilly and thoughtfully.