Published on Thursday, February 28, 2008

Sixth cross 'not fair' to those still grieving

By LETTER WRITER

Five is enough.

When I first saw pictures of the five crosses on the hill near King Memorial Commons, I was glad to see the campus coming together.

When I went to visit it on Monday the 18th, I saw something different. I didn’t see five crosses with the names of the victims; I saw six. Even on Monday, the first day of classes, there are six Huskie dogs next to Cole Hall. I didn’t think much of it really, since six people did die that day.

It wasn’t until later that I actually thought about what it meant. No matter what your religious beliefs are, or what your feelings toward the shooter as a person are, that sixth cross does not belong next to the other five.

It’s not fair to the five people who died, to the numerous people injured and all those affected by the tragedy to have to be reminded of the shooter when visiting the mourning site. Yes, it is tragic for his family and forgiveness is necessary. Just not now, not on this campus. Not everyone wants to deal with those feelings right now, people want to mourn the five victims that died and having that sixth cross is unfair to all who are still grieving.

John Prejzner
Senior, political science