Personal Reflections

Counsel Harval Bassi Questions A Witness – Painting by Alex Tavshunsky

By looking at how the media and public (as witnesses) reacted to the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, I am able to better understand the process that ensues after witnessing a tragedy. After the shootings, the public sought to focus on societal issues such as bullying and mental health policies. They did more than just speak out; they sought to change laws and policies.

As aspects of society, these problems are able to be applied to everyone and thus unite the witnesses of this distant suffering. It also allows us to add meaning to give the shootings a deeper significance and have some “good” come out of them. In fact, casting the shooters as fellow victims allows us to shift accountability from individual people into something much larger and more abstract: society. Whether this is “right” or “wrong,” this process does show us a possible desire in witnesses to be inspired by tragedies to resolve issues while maintaining a faith in our ability to change our surroundings. As Boltanski (1999) stated, witnesses cannot just stand idly by.

As a result, the spectacle that we witness empowers us to take action in order to reaffirm our humanity. In the case of the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, framing the shooters as victims and attempting to “fix” the larger societal issues was the action we took. By doing so, we were able to fulfill our moral obligations to act as witnesses and, in the process, join closer together in our actions.

With the moral obligation that comes with it, witnessing may certainly seem like a burden. However, I think of it as a blessing. Although we are compelled to make something of the suffering that we witness, doing so ultimately allows us to learn something about ourselves and become more human. Ultimately, it is important in how it gives us depth and allows us to think deeply. In a way, witnessing distant suffering and the process that results helps us become less distant.