Cho’s sister, for example, is a princeton graduate, has a good job and has apparently no psychological problems whatsoever.

I agree with your article.

The majority of the public dismiss Cho as a crazy, psychotic, psychopathic murderer who just snapped for no reason. What they don’t understand is that monsters are created, not born.

I am also Asian, and I experience the same pain Cho suffered (racism from peers, exclusion, shyness, speech impediment). Cho may have been mentally ill, but I think the racism and taunting had a lot to do with it. Believe me, I’ve been through what he has, and sometimes I think about hurting those who caused me pain.

You are absolutely right. There is much more that could be said about this tragedy.

Most people do not get the social support they need to be mentally healthy. And when they get sick, the high cost of medical care makes it difficult for them to get help.

The fragmented, inadequate care that Virginia Tech provided to Cho was downright criminal.

I don’t know if Cho suffered from schizophrenia. In my experience, most people who are diagnosed as schizophrenic are not violent. It was the racist bullying that drove Cho to violence. And, tragically, he lived in a very sick society that makes it much easier to get guns than it is to find social support.

I appreciated your insights into Mr. Cho and the tragedy that occurred at Va. Tech.

As a mental health professional I am dismayed that many avoid discussing the issue of Schizophrenia and other mental health issues affecting many young people. As we know, Schizophrenia can seriously affect a person’s life, as well as the lives of their family and friends. Many with such a predisposition experience onset at college due to their age and the impact of being away from familiar surroundings.

The onset of schizophrenia usually takes place in the late teens or early 20’s – sometimes later for women. Relocating to a college campus often coincides with early symptoms as one’s support system is disrupted. Around the world, approximately 1% of the population – or one in a hundred people – will experience some form of schizophrenia.

Even though schizophrenia is rare, its early onset and the lifelong disability it brings to people affected, including their families, make schizophrenia one of the most catastrophic mental illnesses. Sadly, many experience increased difficulty making decisions and approaching life rationally. It is a scary feeling I have heard expressed by patients. One can only imagine the anxiety and impaired judgment affecting Mr Cho.

Surely your omission of discussing the possibility of a mental health diagnosis and the break-down in follow up would be equal to the topic of bullying.

To imply to the public that bullying and isolation was the main cause for his mental health crisis and resulting violence seems to short change Mr. Cho. It also short changes the angst his family must have been going through for years. Your take glosses over the glaring need for the mental health system to review its policies and procedures.

The fact that poor Mr Cho was discharged back to campus without a five minute follow up phone call to VA Tech’s mental health service is astounding. Newspaper accounts quote professionals who treated or counseled Mr Cho as saying:”I did not know.”

Specifically, no one knew of his history or sought input from his family when he was unable to clarify his history of rage during assessments. It is written in Virginia regulations that, at the minimum, a phone contact must be made to the referring & discharging entity.

Think what one phone call from one doctor to another could have done. Maybe the concept that a college campus might not be the appropriate place for meeting Mr Cho’s needs might have come up.

I thank you Susan, for your insight into Cho’s troubled life.

I would like to lay my perspective here for you. Although the only thing we can really draw on is speculation on what made Cho did what he did, what I have to draw on is my own experiences, which probably are far from what he experienced, yet ultimately had a similar end. I think it quite sad, and ironic at the same time that there is really no window into such tormented worlds, especially one who turns to homicide in the end, because those who turn into these paths end up dead by their own hand. I digress though.

I am a different man than Cho was, but what joins him to me is the pain. I describe myself as a very empathic person, and through it I’ve always done my best to understand the people around me. I reached out to people, instead of closing myself within myself. Though I suffered my own personal bullying, as a person I could never accept inflicting pain, purposefully, especially through my own actions, as acceptable. This was a moral value I was brought up with and held very close to my heart and being. This value was my sole defense against what I endured, because cliché sayings of “sticks and stones” do little to dull the cutting words that are the dehumanization of a person.

They did hurt me, very deeply, more so because I am, or rather was, a deeply sensitive individual. Much like Cho probably was, I was unprepared for what hate was. I however was not an immigrant, instead I grew up in a small rural village, in where everyone knew everyone else, and for the most part everyone was friends. I did have friends, and always had some friends to this day. When I moved from that small assuming place I experienced much negativity as I was given glimpse after glimpse of the horrors of the “real” world. Despite the pain inflicted on me I seldom entertained thoughts of revenge, vengeance, or justice. The thoughts that pervaded my mind, as I suspect many do in a similar position, is suicide. It can be a bit of a mixed blessing that most people are brought up, or on some level are conditioned not to just go out and kill your fellow man. Of course there are some unfortunate exceptions.

Though Cho was offered help, I was not. I actually sought out help; there was fear, but no sense of shame, just helplessness. However, the world can be a very cruel place. My parents could offer little practical advice and didn’t understand the nature of my suffering. I turned to seeking aid from my teacher, to perhaps find and end to the bullying; the response I got was less than favorable. Yet in an ironic twist, was the same thing that prevented Cho from getting his help: People’s rights had to be considered. So my teacher simply told me along the lines “I don’t know his side of the story, I can’t help you.” In my eyes, justice in the world did not exist, and that I was truly alone in what I perceived was my fight; another commonality of this type of suffering, in that I am quite sure.

A fighter I was not. I abhor pain, strife, conflict. The only thing I could do was endure, and endure I did for many years. There was a price to be paid, and nothing to be gained for this position. One would think that a soul is worth the world, but for me it was worth nothing, as day by day I would lose a little bit more of it. The only thing I got in return was just more pain.

As I mentioned at the start, there are few windows to people who are pushed so far, as the ultimate result is death. Many of those ‘fortunate’ windows into the other side are the ones who fail at their suicide attempts. Fewer people still, those go on killing rampages end up still breathing. I know what that feels like, the ability to kill. Had I been holding a gun, I would have been able to pull trigger. No hesitation, no emotion, no thought, no reason. In that respect, it wouldn’t have mattered who was in front of me. It was a total breakdown of reason and logic. I only carried this feeling for but a moment. For one second I knew what it meant; to truly hate. To hate everything. It was the time it took for me to swing my fist at the person at the time that was tormenting me. In that second my fist turned into an open palm and slapped him across the face. What part of me was still left screamed for me to stop, telling me what I was doing was wrong, all wrong. If I was another person I would have kept falling off the ledge into insanity; I would have embraced the part of me that wanted to kill the individual in front of me, to fight, kick, and bite. Or perhaps embrace the hatred the pain, plot out my revenge and truly inflict something worthy of the suffering I endured. Instead, I simply stood in shock at what I had done, even if it was a simple slap.

Needless to say I ended up in the hospital, and my teachers finally took some notice. My tormentor got a 3-day suspension, perhaps another injustice for some looking at my situation, but I already accepted long ago that life isn’t fair. The only thing I can take comfort in was that I only lost most of my soul, not all of it; and it is of little comfort.

Because I am empathic, I knew what I experienced was relatively nothing to the types of bullying other people endure. I knew because I was sensitive I ‘broke’ relatively easily, not a good container for vast volumes of anger and pain. I knew what drove people to kill themselves, but what’s more, I knew what could drive people to murder.

We live in a truly troubled society. The fact that Cho is excluded in death, that he is portrayed as a monster is only a testament to that it will happen again. No one wishes to look at the individual that was destroyed in any light than other than a homicidal monster. People choose to see him as a coward and a weakling, undeserving of walking this earth. His suffering will for the most part go unnoticed, an effort made to forget the man; the source of all these other people’s suffering. I do not wish to diminish the suffering of his victims, but it is a mistake to diminish his. Only through empathy can people realize that he was a victim too, that in this tragic tale only through embracing his pain can we hope to ever come to a happy ending. Otherwise we will simply see people say that violent media and guns kill people, and we will see people say that these individuals need to suck it up and stand up for themselves. The heart of the problem will never be revealed under such misdirected views.

He delivered his message, but too few listen. Fewer still can understand it. He was a monster, but inside that monster was a tormented soul, screaming in horrible pain and agony. I hope Cho found his peace.

American Blacks suffer 300 more deaths per 100,000 people than American Whites. If there were no racism, the death rate for Blacks and Whites would be the same. Compare these 300 additional deaths with the much smaller U.S. murder rate of about 6 people per 100,000. Conclusion: every year, racism kills 50 times more people than die at the hands of individual murderers.

“Racism kills 50 times more Americans every year than die at the hands of individual murderers.” Do you have any documentation to back-up that ludicrous assertion?

bravo susan…bravo…..you nailed it! it’s beautiful that someone can articulate a message that needs to be said….

I enjoyed reading this very much – and agree wholeheartedly. Thank you so much, you’ve made me look at the world a bit differently today.