I'm a bit conflicted......

(which is a fairly normal state for me....)

When the Virginia Tech tragedy happened, I was stunned -- as were my children (I was visiting two of my children and three of their friends in Raleigh). We couldn't find words to express how we felt. When I heard people say what a shame it is that our children weren't safe on college campuses....I agreed. I understood.

But....in the last couple of weeks I've talked with two different university professors in two different areas of the U.S. and I've been challenged on my feelings. They (the professors) are appalled and heart-broken about the tragedy, yet -- and here's the part I never considered -- they are angered at people calling college students children. And they are unbelieving at the talk of campus "lock-downs" and the like.

Their feelings (yes, I'm speaking for them -- and I'm probably not getting it entirely correct, but....) their feelins are that college students are adults, and a college campus is a community where ideas are communicated. They didn't feel the campus should have been put on lock-down after the first two murders any more than any city experiencing two murders should be locked-down.

I can understand their logic, yet I can't agree with them. When asked if it would have been any less tragic if the deaths had occurred in a work place or a neighborhood, I had to agree that it would have been just as tragic. The slaughter of human beings anywhere is tragic. But....still and all....you just shouldn't be killed in a classroom.

When do you become an adult? When you reach a certain age, graduate from high school, marry, go to college. Is it insulting to think of college students as children who deserve a safe environment? And what about our service men and women? So very many of them are college age.

I was stunned to hear some of my daughter's and son's friends (who are in their 20's and early 30's) express how unjust they felt it is that children (their words) are fighting and dying in a war when we at home haven't been asked to sacrifice diddly squat.

Well, since I've managed to totally confuse myself -- I guess it's a good point to stop.