THE SOUNDS OF VIOLENCE

`````It's almost been a year. Time to file the paperwork for end of fiscal term, submit requests for vacation leave, that sort of thing. All very normal.

`````But it's not. New routines and structures are in place that are suppossed to prevent it from happening again. Yet, there is more to the mere physicality of a structure or a place which defines it. There is more to safety than solid walls and thick doors. For some, the events of a year ago changed things forever.

`````Violence does not have a soundtrack. There is no driving rap music or soaring arias to accompagny it when it descends. On that night it was strange what I missed.

`````I did not hear the gunshots. I was made aware that there had been a discharge but I was on the telephone trying to call people. When we compared notes later, the people in the midst of it all had their own perspectives. The sound of violence to them was an instantenous roar; that it came from humans in a spontaneous explosion only gives credence to books like "The Lord of the Flies". Violence is breaking glass, items beating against doors as others try to gain entry and every item imaginable being broken. Yet, in the midst of it, one can make out the threats of harm. Those words are clear.

`````The sound of violence is the warm buzz in my ears, for somewhere in that maelstorm were people that I cared for. It wouldn't abate until I knew that they were safe. Then it would be replaced by the sounds of silence, for I had to continue doing what I was doing. I could not call out to them. I had to look at people and hope that my eyes caught theirs and conveyed my concern and anger that this had happened. So many messages without words.

`````It is the usual cacophany of sounds with which we have become familiar from television; the emergency vehicles and people moving quickly by. It is people calling out orders and the need for medical attention. It is the sound of vomiting as an aftermath.

`````When I finally arrived home it was the sound of the answering machine. There were the voices of people who wanted me to call right away to let them know I was okay, for by now the story was on the news.

`````The sound of violence resonates. It does not go away and for the people directly involved it echoes in individual ways. When will that finally be understood? It is not a single act that goes away. It is a powerful energy with a long life---thus is the nature of physics. The hurt parties need to be treated with respect by a system that appreciates them and not merely silenced.