Virginia Tech Sinks In

Most times you get caught up in the things that effect you directly…work, family and the like so something on the outside takes a while to sink in. Tuesday night my wife and I watched about two hours of news coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting and I have to say we were left speechless at times. With a 21-year old son of our own on a large college campus we tried to imagine what it must be like for the parents of these young men and women. Of all the things you think about when you send a child to college
what happened in Blacksburg, Virginia isn’t even one you’d have in the very back of your mind…at least not before Monday. While there will be plenty of time for finger-pointing and blame the truth is that violent crime on college campuses is well below the numbers everywhere else. As a matter of fact the safest place in all of Los Angeles is the campus of the University of Southern California.

But honestly that’s not what’s important right now. The focus should be on not only grieving for those who have been killed but doing everything possible for all those that remain at Virginia Tech. How do they get on with their lives, how do they even muster the energy to go back to class and some type of normal routine. How do they not just want to crawl in a corner and wonder aloud….”this could have been me.”

As you get older you find that it’s harder to be shocked by anything. Many will tell you that after 9-11 there is nothing that can really make you say “I can’t believe it” because truly we can believe almost anything as the unimaginable keeps happening.

But as long as most of us have a pulse we will be affected by stories like this. I watched and listened to a father being interviewed by CNN. His daughter was killed in the shooting and his comfort was the fact he had seen her perform in a dance exhibition the day before. Now he was trying to get the coroner to let him see her one more time and say goodbye. The day that doesn’t move me and bring a tear or two is the day I have given up completely…fortunately that day is not here just yet.