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I want to start this note by saying that my thoughts and prayers are with all of those who have been affected by the tragedy that occured at Virginia Tech. The lives of a number of intelligent young men and women were lost and it is truely disturbing.

The purpose of this note is to discuss an epidemic in this country that has slowly been on the rise since the early 90's. The lack of recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illnesses. Last night I watched CNN for hours and discovered a lot. No I am in no way saying that someone messed up and should have made sure Cho didn't have a chance to hurt anyone. It is very easy to look back now and say well look at all the signs why didn't this person do this or why didn't someone realize. So Cho was known as a loner and was "weird" so are thousands of other people on the face of this earth. That doesnt mean that they should be locked up just because they like their privacy. Also not everyone who is a loner or has strange tendencies suffers from a mental illness.

However in Cho's case i do believe that there were enough signs to see that something was not right for him mentally. Someone should have made an effort to get him on medication, that I feel is a major flaw in the system. I understand we can't force people into treatment or onto medication without just cause. That however raises the question how far does someone have to go for action to be taken? Do we have to wait until someone is hurt by their acions before we can force the person to get help? That seems to be the protocal right now and it is unacceptable. I am by no means an expert in the field of psychology nor do i pretend to be but to me there were instances that should have been warrant enough to force Cho to get help.

The first and most disturbing of these was three seperate incidents of stalking, one of which involved the police. Second Cho's writing which showed almost a fear of being taken advantage of by older men, and was filled with violent language. I am a big fan of creative writing and I realize some very normal people can write some very disturbing things i.e. Chuck Palahniuk, Thomas Harris, and Stephen King. I do believe however that repeat trends in writing should be examined as more then just being creative, they should be looked at as the possibility of a cry for help. I commend the members of the VT english department who went above and beyond their required duties to try and help this troubled student. Lastely the "question mark"

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