Taylor Bradford Essay

I don’t really feel affected by the shooting of Taylor Bradford. I know this sounds horrible, but I didn’t know him so while I can register this as something sad, it doesn’t really seem to be connected to me at all. I can’t say that I was surprised that something like this could happen at the U of M because Memphis in general has a lot of violence. You hear about people getting shot in Memphis or near campus all the time so this shooting wasn’t shocking. My parents didn’t consider it a big deal probably because they live in Memphis but I did get a few phone calls from my grandparents who were really scared. I explained to them that things like this happen in Memphis and that I feel very secure in my classes and at my apartment. This doesn’t make me feel unsafe on campus because I know we have a good system of security and I don’t think that the kind of thing that happened to Taylor could be prevented by campus security. I know it seems like I just contradicted myself, but what I’m trying to say is that there is no reason for me to be more careful about my safety after what happened because I don’t think that there is any way to prevent things like this from happening. I feel safe on campus in the sense that I don’t think that I would be attacked or anything, but being shot at is not something that our security force can do anything about. I trust in God, the same way I always have, that I will be safe, and I try not to worry about things. Maybe if I lived on campus or was more involved I would feel more connected to the shooting this weekend, but because I simply go to my classes and then leave I don’t feel much attachment to the U of M. I feel sad that Taylor Bradford died and I have been praying for his family and friends to be filled with God’s peace and comfort. Other than that, this event didn’t seem to touch me. I feel that it is kind of messed up that I don’t feel connected to this, so I am looking to become more involved with the university. While I feel that I should be more connected to this incident, I do not think that being affected by this can prevent such things from happening in the future. I think that as individuals and as a society our way of thinking needs to change. Maybe if our culture valued human life more in general, instead of focusing only on ourselves, there would be less violence. The only thing I can think of to bring about this change in values is by vocalizing our discontent and by recognizing that, no matter how much we have become accustomed to it, violence is not normal.