I was reading Nancy’s post on the Reactive Attachment blog about the Virgina Tech shooting and I was wondering at my own compulsion to write about the incident. I hadn’t planned on writing anything about it, but every time I attempted to write something else…it was all that popped into my head.

I can’t even begin to imagine what was running though the head of the young man who open fired on students and teachers on the Virginia Tech campus. Most likely, I wouldn’t want to be in his head. It must have been full of dark turmoil. I hope, for the sake of the people who are left behind that the authorities are able to find answers to some of the questions. Though, from where I stand, it seems like such a waste of life.

Every news media is talking about the shooter. They describe him as a Korean resident alien. It all comes back to that need that we have to put labels on everyone. I can’t claim immunity from it though. It’s that same label that drives my compulsion to write about him on this blog. Somehow, despite the fact that he was not adopted, the very fact that he was from South Korea draws me to his story. While I would have been more likely to concentrate on the people he killed if he had been Caucasian, Black, Hispanic…, I find myself fascinated by this young man. What made him do what he did?

A professional could probably explain this to me in technical terms, but I felt a distinct feeling of disappointment when I learned that he was from South Korea – born in the same country that I was. I felt a different kind of disappointment when I learned that the Korean doctor had faked his cloning experiments in the journals, but it had been disappointment all the same. It’s funny that I would feel this connection with people that I haven’t ever met. I guess it proves that I can identify with people who look like me on the outside just as easily as I can identify with people who are like me on the inside.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this new found set of thoughts. Perhaps, I will file it away in my mind for now and bring it out later when it’s time for my son to have his own identity crisis.

If you would like to comment, but not on this site, please e-mail me at adoptkoreablog@adoptionmail.com.