DO WE NEED ANOTHER MASSACRE TO ACT INSTEAD OF REACT:

Hey dear friends this is an article I wrote for a magazine regarding the VA TECH MASSACRE. Perhaps you can share this with your University staff. I will post it on my facebook and I will love to get your student perspective about what I propose as well

I can’t believe that again in the United States, militarily the most powerful nation in the world, there has been another massacre. This time we are talking about an astounding 32 dead and dozens wounded. I can tell you there could have been more people killed had the murderer had more time, but then there could have been fewer victims had a security plan already been in place. Please allow me to share my perspective, as a Guatemalan businessman that travels a lot to the United States.
Before 9/11 I felt secure in the U.S.; for me, visits were about enjoying myself and being at peace all the time, taking pleasure in the landscapes, awesome places and people. The people of the U.S. are kind, and once they welcome you into their world, they simply touch your life. Over the years I have become increasingly conscious of the differences between my country and the United States. The U.S. has a serious lack of security, not only in universities, but everywhere. People are not prepared for any type of violence and I keep asking myself, “Why?”

My reality is different in Guatemala. I come from a country where we had a civil war that lasted almost 40 years with more than 250,000 people killed; entire villages were wiped off the face of the earth. Guatemala is still a violent country with murders and kidnappings daily occurrences. About 10 years ago my parents were held hostage in our own house for over 2 hours. Another day my brother was shot as he ran away from his would-be kidnappers. Yes, that’s the reality in which I live.
As a result of these conditions I have in essence been trained to be aware of my environment; I have been trained to check my threats in seconds—every one of them—and I know how I should act in every scenario. Every time I go to the U.S. I keep that same mentality, and I can tell that the people of the United States are not ready to do that, but it is imperative that they do it for their survival.
I have come to realize how the violence in the United States is so different from my country’s violence. Guatemala is a battle zone, whereas violence in the U.S. seems to have a deep emotional connection. Someone with extreme emotional problems and automatic weapons shoots at everything that moves and is alive. They are not fighting for a cause, they are not trying to extort money, they are simply lashing out at anyone that is in their path. No matter the individual reason behind each act of violence, they all have had a common denominator: the actions have taken place in schools and universities, or occasionally in a company. Because of that reality, every time I go to a university or a similarly enclosed place I am continually checking my surroundings. I am always developing a mental strategy of how to survive if I am in one of these situations when I am there. People in the United States need to start doing that, because it is like Russian roulette: you don’t know who has gotten up today and decided, “Today others will die because my life is unbearable.”

The reality of these cases:

In the past decade there have been numerous massacres in schools and universities: Colorado, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, including last fall’s Amish school killings, and countless others. Two weeks ago a worker decided to kill his boss and others simply because he got fired from his job. Now at Virginia Polytechnic Institute we have the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history, with one student making a decision to change all of his victims’ lives forever, in only a matter of seconds. Though the facts of the case remain unclear at this time, the killer had more than 2 hours between incidents, with the police and the SWAT team trying to prepare their contingency plan. That left the victims at the killer’s mercy—and unfortunately they were not prepared to act in this type of situation.

I can visualize the scenario: someone realizes there is a shooter killing people and they call the police, waiting for them to come, but the shooter continues on his rampage killing and wounding dozens—it is simply too late. Victims don’t have minutes, they have seconds. It takes time for the police to arrive and to formulate a plan. A shooter with an automatic weapon and several magazines will have more than enough time to have killed and wounded many more. That is what happened to these students—they reacted to the situation, where they needed to act on it. It is alarming to watch the frequency of these situations rise with no real plan of action in place.
Students in the United States need to learn to have a contingency plan for this kind of situation. When a massacre like this happens all the NEWS programs make sure they get the fastest and most exclusive information, and then that’s it—people die and nothing changes. Time goes by and once again another MASSACRE comes into our lives. The police try their best to rescue everyone, but it is always too late. At Virginia Tech the killer chained all the doors, there WAS NO WAY OUT and police couldn’t stop him. I have to say it again: students need to be trained and learn to ACT, not react.
I decided a long time ago that I would rather die trying to fight back than just waiting, hoping not to be shot and left to die. I had to learn how to develop the mindset to be able to deal with this type of situation. There are so many steps that need to be taken in U.S. schools and universities. Numbers and statistics tell us that these are the main places where these massacres are taking place. I hope you can understand my point of view: the students and staff of schools and universities need to learn how to deal with these situations. If they continue to react to the situation and wait for the police it will always be too late for someone. Think about it, at VA Tech the gunman chained the doors—the victims didn’t have a way out, and were at the killer’s mercy. Students must learn to protect themselves; they must be taught how to take back their campuses.

This article is not about telling the police what to do or to lay blame, but to emphasize the need to create and develop a security strategy that will give students and faculty a contingency plan to follow in these types of situations. Of course, universities and schools need to develop rigorous security plans to guard against these incidents happening, and to be prepared for those that do. They especially need to prepare for the minutes when the police have not arrived, for the time when only a crazy person with the goal of killing EVERYONE he thinks he has the right to kill is in control.

I couldn’t believe all of the images from Virginia, of the police hauling people out with gunshots or even dead. All I could think about were the friends I have in universities around the U.S., friends I have met perhaps in Guatemala, working on a missions trip for my people. I can’t help wondering what they would do in that situation, wondering if they would be the next victims. I have been preparing for a coming U.S. university visit and presentation, and have thought about the possibility that it could happen while I am there, another senseless, selfish act of violence taken out on strangers. I am saddened to think that of the thousands of faculty and students on that campus, I may be the only one there that is prepared to ACT if faced with a similar situation.
I am tired of learning about this violence, and I feel I have a responsibility to the country that has helped me a lot when I have needed it the most. To be honest with you, my concern about these incidents sharply increased with the murder of the Amish schoolgirls. I have come to realize that I need to share what I have learned as a civilian in Guatemala: you need to be in a protective mode every single day in every situation. Just to give you an example, in every fast food restaurant in Guatemala we have armed guards; we take nothing for granted. The people of the United States cannot afford to take anything for granted as well.
I would love to be able to bring people—especially in schools and universities—in the United States a better sense of security. If you would like my assistance and consultation I would be happy to share with you more of what I have been developing in terms of security planning and issues. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Pablo Castañeda
President & Founder
Kafes Guatemala
www.kafesguatemala.com