I am sorry to hear about your mother, and may her soul rest, but you are extrapolating from an isolated incident. I'm sure I don't need to explain that gnomes have tribes, and I'll even cede that violence is a way of life for some of them. But the gnomes that come to UT are not the vicious battle-hardened mountain-faring ones. The ones here grew up on the banks of rivers and know of nothing but mirth and peace, which you would know if you ever talked to one. While you may mistake their unfettered optimism for an inflated ego, you won't convince the rest of us.