As some of you know, I am a graduate of Virginia Tech, a “Hokie” if you will. The tragic events of April 16th, 2007 impacted me greatly, even from 300 miles away in Indiana. After hearing the news I sat nearly paralyzed in front of the television, watching the news reports stream in. It was chilling. I had lived in the same dorm as Cho, the killer, and I attended many classes in Norris, the building where the shooting took place. I was even a student of one of the professors who was killed and remembered as a hero, Liviu Libresceu. In the days that followed I wore the maroon and orange of Virginia Tech in remembrance and solidarity for nearly a week.
Today marks one year since those 33 people’s lives were abruptly brought to a halt. Simply typing this and thinking of the sadness of it all brings back those familiar emotions from a year ago. I hope that you notice that I choose to remember 33, not 32 as the media tends to do. I hope that you will also remember 33, because even though Cho was the one who perpetrated this tragedy, he was a victim as well. A victim of a society that often does not know how to deal with diversity in healthy ways, a society that would rather shun and break people down instead of including them and building them up. In addition, the pain of Cho’s family is no less than the pain of the other victims’ families. If anything, theirs may be greater.
I’ll be wearing my maroon and orange again today, in solidarity, in unity, in remembrance of 33.
Be sure to see my wife Becky’s post on this same topic.
Well said! Thanks for remembering 33.