It has been an eventful week, particularly with the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Definitely a story of true love.
Unfortunately, there has also been tragedy when it comes to potential love. There have been two recent incidents in which rejection has resulted in murder.
The first incident would be the shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, in which Dimitrios Pagourtzis killed ten people and wounded thirteen others. Pagourtzis was later taken into custody.
Apparently his motive was due to him being rejected by Shana Fisher, one of his classmates. According to Sadie Rodriguez (Fisher’s mother), Pagourtzis had made many advances towards Fisher, and she kept rejecting him. Rodriguez also said that Pagourtzis would continue to make advances towards her daughter, and become more aggressive while doing so.
Rodriguez also said that a week before the shooting, Fisher stood up to him and embarrassed him during one of their classes.
That was the final straw for Pagourtzis. Rejection and humiliation had pushed him over the edge.
As a result, Fisher became the first victim in Pagourtzis’s rampage, and would also be among the fatalities.
Not surprisingly, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg (a.k.a. Boss Hogg), and other gun control advocates are calling for stricter gun laws in the aftermath of this shooting. In fact, the day before the Santa Fe High School shooting, Emma Gonzalez was speaking at the Education Writers Association when she said the following:
“Go join the Army if you want to have fun shooting off a weapon, and serve your f**king country.”
I think her statement is an insult to those serving or who have served in the Army (and the other Armed Services for that matter). She needs to apologize for such a remark.
Also, I guess the school year has already ended at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Either that or Emma and company are allowed to leave school whenever they feel like it.
But perhaps the most important question is why didn’t anyone put a stop to Pagourtzis’s frequent advances towards Fisher? If I’m not mistaken, isn’t that considered harassment or even stalking? The parents of those involved (and school officials for that matter) should have intervened. Had they done so, this tragedy could have been averted.
The second incident occurred in Bangladesh, in which a man named Abul Hossain had made advances (and by some accounts, even proposed marriage) to a teenage girl named Sukolpi Tripura. After she rejected his advances, he killed her as well as Chobi Rani Tripura (who was killed because she witnessed the murder). Hossain and several accomplices were later arrested for the murders, and Hossain eventually confessed to carrying out an act of revenge.
So there you have it. Two cases of rejection resulting in murder.
But what are the odds you might hear about the motive, i.e. rejected advances leading to murder (particularly in the case of Pagourtzis)? It is uncertain at this point, because the gun control advocates are going to be in the spotlight, especially after a shooting at a high school in Georgia took place the same day as the shooting in Texas.
In conclusion, the perpetrators in both cases should have been properly taught on how to handle rejection, and be respectful to women, regardless of their background or culture.
Image: Excerpted from: https://pixabay.com/en/sculpture-sculpture-park-2613506/
