aquemini03

I know I should probably refrain from writing anything on this subject but it is hard to not put my thoughts down somewhere. I am not even that connected to Virginia Tech. My best friend works there in a building that is only a few hundred feet from where the first two were shot. I have been there several times, but I am not that close to the situation. I also have a friend that has yet to hear from her high school friend that attends the institution. I do work in higher education and I cannot help but think about how this will change what I do for a living. This is an email I sent to my VP not long ago.

'I am writing you today from my home as I have caught a cold. I am not even sure if you are the person I should talk to. However, my thoughts cannot help but mull over the events at Virginia Tech. My best friends works there and you may recall I lived about an hour from there before coming to Cal. I am sure there will be discussion on our plan and what we would do in an extreme situation like this. Unfortunately that meeting may take place before I arrive on campus on someday. The reason I am writing is to be considered a part of the team that helps our students in any kind of situation. I feel that it is the least I can do. I know I am not a certified counselor, but there has to be a place for me in a crisis type of situation. Please let me know where I can fit in. Thank you.'

I cannot begin to imagine the hurt and the pain that is felt by all in that community. As the names come out we know that a lot of people are being affected by it. We know there are those that await to hear, but are starting to lose hope. I am sorry. I wish there was more that I can do. Even being distant to the situation now I feel a burden in my heart. To those that are affected, put some of your burden in my heart, if you think I can help. I feel empty inside.

As I am writing this I got a text message saying that my friend's high school friend is okay.

It is a shame that I remember dates now for the pain that has been felt on those days rather than the days that I have felt the most joy.
1/28 - Challenger Spaceship Exploded
3/24 - Jonesboro, Arkansas
4/5 - Layne Staley, The voice of a generation, my generation
4/16 - VT, Holocaust Rememberance Day
4/19 - OK City Bombing
4/20 - Columbine
9/11 - No Explanation Needed
10/2 - Amish School Shooting

Now come the words that some of you will disagree with, but I feel the need to write them. I have watched intently all the coverage on the television and I am trying to understand all that is said. One woman that is an FBI Profiler said that we all need to be equipped with guns. She home schooled all of her children. Some are also angry at the administration saying the Norris incident could have been prevented. There is still a chance that the shooter had a partner in crime. This was not a spur of the moment incident. This was a methodical killing spree. It was planned out well in advance. Some say there were warnings in his writings. If every person that had strange writings I would have been a candidate for this type of action were you to look in my 11th grade English folder with the writings and words written in my own blood. I wonder if the school had been on lock down earlier, if everyone had known, just what would have happened. Would he have been even more deranged? Would he have just killed in his own residence hall, which is the one outside my best friend's office window? Would he have waited until the lock down was raised and followed through on his plans? He killed people from his hometown. A hometown that had an identified gunman in a killing last year. He would have found a way to kill. The administration followed their protocol. If everyone had a gun in this situation or in other shootings how would we know who the original shooter really was? Would innocent people not get killed like they did in this senseless act? More kids die in bike accidents without a helmet in a year, accidents that can be prevented, than in a situation like this.

I wonder what will happen to higher education as we know it. Students want to be at a free setting that does not feel like a fortress. We will all reexamine our protocols. I want to be someone to call on in any kind of crisis situation. I hope that nothing like this ever happens again in our world. I feel for Virginia Tech, a school with some great programs and a beautiful campus, as they will lose enrollment. I feel for my friend who does not need to deal with this on top of the pain she is already going through. I want her to feel safe. That school will lose bright individuals like her as well.

This is the second time I wrote this as the first time I was logged out Virb, so I am not sure it conveys the same message. I apologize for that.

I am sorry for the victims of this and all those that are close to them. If only there were more I could do. For those that are injured may they tell their stories in a healthy way that will allow us all to learn and understand this situation. For those that were willing to hold the table in front of a door to keep the shooter out may they be honored.


Stop telling us that this was the biggest killing incident in America? No matter how much we profile and send people to counseling there is always someone deranged running free. They already arrested some kid at RIT with assault rifles in his room. They had to evacuate a school in Texas. There was a threat in Oklahoma. What would bring anyone to do this after such a horrific event? There is bad parenting, there is athe quiet kid, there is undetected brain damage - it can lead to violence. Don't think for a minute that everyone out there hearing the news has shed a tear. Someone is smiling - don't give them a record to break.

It is a day after one of the worst days in our lives and here we stand trying to move forward and live our lives. No matter where you are.....today we are all Hokies and for those of us in education we will forever dawn the maroon and orange.