Lay Down Your Arms, Give Up The Fight

By now we have all heard of the tragedy that occured at Fort Hood on Thursday. A soldier at the fort, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, opened fire in a military processing center, killing 13 people. CNN.com posted an article today focusing on the family of the only civilian to be killed in the attack, Michael Cahill, who was in his sixth year of working as a physician's assitant at the fort.

"Michael Cahill, 62, had worked for six years at Fort Hood as a physician's assistant, helping soldiers deploying and returning from overseas, after working as a rural doctor and serving in the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves.

He loved his job so much that he drove 60 miles in each direction to get to work each day...

...The family chose to remember those memories, rather than focus on Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspect in the shooting.

'He's not the person I'm thinking about,' Keely Vanacker said. 'I'm thinking about my dad. He was a great person and it's going to be a great loss.'

Family members stressed, however, they hope there isn't a backlash against Muslims because of the attack. It was one man's decision to unload his weapons, they said, and a larger group certainly shouldn't be held responsible.

'Being so angry at one group of people -- that's not going to bring my dad back,' Keely Vanacker said."
[Read Full Article Here]

This is a very sad story, one of many you can find on this topic right now; however, what surprised me really was their attitude toward the attacker. I think what the family has to say about it being one man, not an entire group, that did this is an important message for people to hear right now. The fact that the shooter was Muslim seems to be the lead to many stories on the news right now. I think it creates a false sense of panic that this man was a domestic terrorist. While what he did is absolutely reprehensible, there is no evidence to say that he had planned this out as a terrorist attack. It's not as if he joined the United States Army in order to infiltrate a fort and kill soldiers. He was a disgruntled soldier, who didn't want to be deployed to Iraq, and the Army wouldn't let him leave. The fact that he is a Muslim is really second to that information.

It just scares me in these times, that are still so sensitive even eight years after the attacks on 9/11, that we would be putting more fear out there about Muslims. We have enough hate happening against Muslims because of the current political climate and by making his religion a frontrunner in the information coming out of this story just adds to the danger people of this religion face in the United States.

This tragedy should be an opportunity to look at the psychological effects being a soldier can have on people. It should perhaps be a lesson in warning signs and how to spot a soldier on the edge. Hopefully this will help us to avoid or stop this problem in the future. This should not be an attack on a religion. I, for one, am happy to see that even the family of a victim can see that and are making sure they let everyone else see it as well.