I am stunned that again in the United States, the most powerful nation in the world militarily, there has been another massacre. This time we are talking about an astounding 33 dead and dozens wounded. I couldn’t believe all of the images of police hauling people out with gunshots in Virginia. I thought about friends I have in universities around the U.S. I can’t help wondering what they would do in that situation, wondering if they would be the next victims.

I have been preparing for an upcoming U.S. university visit and presentation, and have thought about the possibility that it could happen while I am there, another senseless, selfish act of violence taken out on strangers. I am saddened to think that of the thousands of faculty and students on that campus, I may be the only one there that is prepared to ACT if faced with a similar situation.

Before 9/11 I felt secure in the U.S.; for me, visits were about enjoying myself and being at peace all the time, taking pleasure in the landscapes, awesome places and people. The people are kind, and once they welcome you into their world, they simply touch your life. Over the years I have become increasingly conscious of the differences between my country and the United States. The U.S. has a serious lack of security, not only in universities, but everywhere. People are not prepared for any type of violence and I keep asking myself, why?

I have come to realize how the violence in the United States is so different from my country’s violence. Guatemala is a battle zone, whereas violence in the U.S. seems to have a deep emotional connection. Someone with extreme emotional problems and automatic weapons shoots at everything that moves. They are not fighting for a cause, they are not trying to extort money, and they are simply lashing out at anyone that is in their path. No matter the individual reason behind each act of violence, they all have had a common denominator: the actions have taken place in schools and universities, or occasionally in a company. Because of that reality, every time I go to a university or a similarly enclosed place I am continually checking my surroundings. I am always developing a mental strategy of how to survive if I am in one of these situations when I am there. People in the United States need to start doing that, because it is like Russian roulette: you don’t know who has gotten up today and decided, “today others will die because my life is unbearable.”

In the past decade there have been numerous massacres in schools and universities: Colorado, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, including last fall’s Amish school killings, and countless others. Two weeks ago a worker decided to kill his boss and others simply because he got fired from his job. Now at Virginia Polytechnic Institute we have the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history. Though the facts of the case remain unclear at this time, the killer had more than two hours between incidents, with the police and the SWAT team trying to prepare their contingency plan. That left the victims at the killer’s mercy and unfortunately they were not prepared to act in this type of situation.

I can visualize the scenario: someone realizes there is a shooter killing people and they call the police, waiting for them to come, but the shooter continues on his rampage killing and wounding dozens’. Victims don’t have minutes they have seconds. It takes time for the police to arrive and formulate a plan. A shooter with an automatic weapon and several magazines will have more than enough time to kill and wound.

Students in the United States need to learn to have a contingency plan for this kind of situation. When a massacre like this happens all the NEWS programs make sure they get the fastest and most exclusive information, and then that’s it; people die and nothing changes. Time goes by and once again another MASSACRE comes into our lives. The police try their best to rescue everyone, but it is always too late. At Virginia Tech the killer chained all the doors, there WAS NO WAY OUT and police couldn’t stop him. I have to say it again: students need to be trained and learn to ACT, not react.
Students must learn to protect themselves; they must be taught how to take back their campuses.

This article is not about telling the police what to do or to lay blame. Universities and schools need to develop rigorous security plans to guard against these incidents happening, and to be prepared for those that do. They especially need to prepare for the minutes when the police have not arrived, for the time when only a crazy person with the goal of killing EVERYONE he thinks he has the right to kill is in control.

I am tired of learning about this type of violence, and I feel I have a responsibility to the country that has helped me a lot when I have needed it the most. My concern about these incidents sharply increased with the murder of the Amish schoolgirls. I have come to realize that I need to share what I have learned as a civilian in Guatemala: you need to be in a protective mode every single day in every situation. Just to give you an example, in every fast food restaurant in Guatemala we have armed guards; we take nothing for granted. The people of the United States cannot afford to take anything for granted as well.

Pablo Castañeda is a Guatemalan writer and spends his time between his country and the U.S. He is the author of Latin Lovers: Do We Really Exist? To read Pablo’s complete bio, click here

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