From mpythongirl:
> > "I was worried for the stabbing victim, certainly, but mostly I kept being curious about what would next develop instead of being terrified that this was going on so close to home."
> >
> > Thank you, violent media, for all that desensitizing!

First things first: I did not mean that I didn't care, and I take your needlessly sarcastic implication that I didn't as a very serious insult. I *said* that I was worried about the victim. I was upset on behalf of the people who were nearby and who must have known the victim -- to have to stand by while such a terrible thing is happening to a friend is a painful event as well. And I was definitely horrified when I wasn't sure whether the person was alive or dead. I'm sorry that I didn't include enough wailing and gnashing of teeth in my original post for your satisfaction, but those feelings were certainly there.

All that I meant by that statement was that I was not seized by terror and questioning whether *I* was safe. My own safety was never a question and continues not to be. The police had the situation well in hand almost from the moment that it *became* a situation. I still feel fine about walking around at night on campus.

What happened last night was what often happens when one mixes too many idiots, too much alcohol, and a weapon in the hands of the wrong idiot who's had a few too many. I don't feel that it reflects on anything else about my school or the area in which it was located. It happened; now it's time to carry on with business.

And then from Sam:
> It wouldn't surprise me if, later, when it was all over and the post written, the reality sunk in, and *then* she started to think about how horrible it was that an actual stabbing occurred outside her front door. I'm pretty sure I would. But it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't, either, because the fact is that bad things happen every day, and it doesn't take violent media for us to realize this and accept that violence is a part of life.

Yes. Exactly. I didn't; as I said, given the circumstances, I'm really more surprised that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often, and I'm very grateful to security personnel and to friends who intervene, as did the people who pulled apart the two guys in white. People like them see that such large crowd situations only rarely escalate to the level that last night's reached.

More than anything, when I think back on this incident, I think of how much worse it could have been -- what if the victim had been killed? What if the knife someone carried had been a gun? What if there had been more than one gun? What if the people yelling at the squad car had persisted? What if the crowd had decided to riot? What happened last night would be counted tame in comparison to all of the things that *could* have happened. I'm just glad that if something so bad had to happen, it was something with no real mortal consequences; the victim will recover.

But I think that the most significant thing that I take away from this is a new appreciation for all the people who work to see that most of my nights at UofL *are* the quiet ones to which I am accustomed.

-Cynthia