Constructive responses to tragedy: preventing future incidents

¶ … mass shooting could have been prevented. The key to knowing what to do in the future is to understand how to recognize signs of mental illness and stability. In this case, the gunman "had been expelled, possibly for behavioral problems." It is clear the school understood that this student had problems. Yet even after the expulsion, the school did not do enough to ensure Goh's mental stability. The issue was not necessarily bullying, as the headline suggests. Students might have been teasing Goh in a good-natured way. After all, a large number of Americans speak English as a second language and it would be odd for someone to get maliciously teased for it. Goh reacted in an extreme way because he was mentally unstable. He had suffered trauma (after the unresolved death of his brother) and had a history of behavioral problems. Students like him need monitoring, counseling and intervention to prevent such instances in the future.

Although the recovery efforts in Japan were and remain admirable due to the extensive nature of the disaster and the scope of damage, recent news has revealed some mishaps in the way the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami has been dealt with. An article in the BBC reports that the Japanese funding for reconstruction has been misspent. It has been almost two years since the disaster happened, and over 300,000 people are still displaced. Construction work is lagging behind. "A government audit showed money had been used for unrelated projects reportedly included on the basis that they could boost national economic revival," ("Japan tsunami reconstruction money 'misspent'" 2012). Reports have also shown that bodies of victims are not identified properly.

3. These two articles show that disasters occur on small scales regularly throughout the world. Not all disasters are tsunamis and earthquakes. Some disasters warrant bigger headlines because of their scope, the amount of destruction or fatalities, or geographic proximity. Other disasters warrant headlines because of their novelty. Both of these articles reveal how heat waves can affect the poor, and shows how income disparity differentiates who can and cannot survive any type of disaster -- small or large -- effectively. Poverty itself can be considered a disastrous effect of the perpetuation of income inequality.

4. Trauma is felt as much on an emotional and mental level as on the physical level. Even traumas that impact the natural world more than human life are felt on a visceral level, and can have long-lasting ramifications for the human psyche. The Gulf oil spill has caused psychological trauma. There is a sense of deep disgust at the cavalier way human beings place money above the beauty of nature. There is also the psychological trauma in having one's homeland: the splendid beauty of the Gulf, being marred by the oil spill. The trauma is also financial. Many businesses suffered as a result of human error, leading to community-wide economic repercussions. Nature, though, suffered the greatest trauma. Bird and fish communities were devastated, and the long-term effects have yet to be measured.