I'm sure everybody has heard by now of the events that took place Monday at Virginia Tech. I was a bit slow to get the news, as I almost never watch TV and I've been a bit addicted to my MP3 player, so I didn't find out until last night.  It's already touted as the worst school shooting in U.S. history, and almost eight years to the day of the Columbine High School massacre.

As I perused the articles on Yahoo, it really struck me how many articles seemed to mention right up front that the gunman was a South Korean. Maybe I'm being oversensitive, being of Asian descent myself, but it seemed pretty ironic. Do they feel oblgated to report the race of every insane gunman? If he was Scot-Irish, would they have mentioned that?

There really is a point to be made from this. Sad to say, it seems there are so many volatile spots in America, inhabited by people who can't seem to separate the action of one from the people. For example, even now there's still Middle Easterners being accosted for the 9/11 attacks - people who were not even Islamic, but just had the misfortune of being from the Middle East. Just the other day one of my friends posted about some people harassing a young child who was in her care at the time, like what does a KID have to do with that disaster in 2001? I have a few friends who have had to deal with related issues. One guy, who's of mixed heritage and has an attractive dark complexion was recently pulled from an airport line TWICE and searched.

I really don't worry so much for myself - I grew up here in N.C., in a small town. My family's well-known around here, and I'm pretty Americanized. But I can't help but worry about some of my other Asian friends and co-workers who live in the more heavily-populated areas, like Fayetteville and Raleigh - Durham. Is there going to be a backlash against those Asian communities that have called this state home? Due to the proximity of Fort Bragg, we have a big population of Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Thai...will those communities come under fire from those too ignorant to realize one unhinged person with severe mental issues is not the spokesperson for all of them? I wish I could say I have faith in my fellow Americans, but there's too many people here who think they have the right to hurt others.

I love this GS community. I am so proud of the way all of us can post together and have fun together despite different age groups, nationalities and colors. Our biggest disputes are over things like game consoles, and what genres we like best. I get on my computer and I can feel the heartbeat of the world, sometimes - all of us coming together in the name of FUN and common love, with no barriers, the way we all should be.

So why do I feel my own heart racing right now, in my world?