Remembering Virginia Tech

I want to start out by taking a moment to reflect on the events that transpired on the Virginia Tech campus on Monday, April 16, 2007. To say I am horrified, disgusted, upset, and enraged would really be an understatement.

I really can't imagine such intense hate and cruel passion. The incredible men and women, professors, staff members and students alike, are all making a difference in the world. In the case of the students, they're going to college so that they can one day make a dent in our lives that, hopefully, makes it a bit better than it was before. They're the next generation of intellectuals, engineers, lovers, actors, writers, musicians, philosophers, professors, historians, activists, and everything in between. They are believers. They believe that they can, through hard work and struggle, change the world around them. And then there are the professors who hope to be able to impart some knowledge that will in turn help infuse the world with hope, optimism, love, and intellect. And now 33 of those voices have been violently stripped from this world.

Maybe I'm slightly more emotional than usual because of Cristin Duprey's memorial service on Saturday (Cristin is a St. Andrew's alum from the Class of 2005 who died in a car accident in February). Will Speers and Tad Roach each spoke at the service and delivered beautiful speeches about Cristin, her life, and her impact on SAS and the world around her. Really, there is no comparison that can be made for Cristin and the VT victims, except that I really have a hard time justifying my own space in the world. We're consistently searching for an answer-- some higher logic-- to why we are here on Earth and why we're in the situation we are. Some chose to believe in a higher being(s), (a) God figure(s), and some chose to believe in the orders of nature, family, or personal spirituality. I have my own beliefs, but it is in times like these that they are absolutely rocked to the core.

My W&M in DC classmate Megan Henry '08 lost a friend in the Virginia Tech massacre. I can only imagine the turmoil of emotions that she must be feeling-- I hope I can be strong enough to be a rock upon which she can re-ground herself. I'm trying, but I also feel that we need to be able to emote. Breaking down during Cristin's service, which at the time was terribly embarassing, was a great release of so much of what I've been thinking about over the past two months. I really felt cleansed and OK at the end of it. Maybe we just need to let ourselves feel during these times before we close ourselves back up.

Just like all the other things that have tested our individual and national beings, like Hurricane Katrina, Columbine, numerous wars, etc. the VT tragedy will end up being a statistic. But we need to remember the voices, the love, and the souls that were lost on Monday. So, I'm holding those 33 individuals in the light. May they be at peace, and may we never forget.

Every moment marked
With apparitions of your soul
I’m ever swiftly moving
Trying to escape this desire
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
But I have the sense to recognize
That I don’t know how
To let you go
-Sarah McLachlan