Man's Response to Tragedy

There are a few special places in the world where I love to be. Places that draw me back again and again. Places that welcome me and and make me feel as if I belong. One of those places is where Beth did her undergraduate work - Virginia Tech. I love that campus! I love the natural beauty of the area. I love the incredibly friendly, outgoing people there. I love their over-the-top school spirit - where they actually WEAR the school colors and logo every day! I love the Hokie stone architecture with all those great archways and courtyards. I love interacting with perfect strangers who smile at you and are kind and who apparently had Moms who taught them basic manners. I love going into a store or a restaurant where they seem GLAD to serve me! And I especially love Va. Tech football games where they taught me how to be fan. I just love BEING there.

Today in the news I saw what one deranged person can do to such a wonderful place. Seeing the bodies of those crazy students who were pushing Springtime by wearing their maroon "Hokie" shorts being carried out of classrooms, covered in blood, just made me fall apart. I feel as if those are MY kids...as if that gunman came into MY home. I want to hug the families and cry with the students and pray with the faculty and townspeople.

On-line I found a "Comments" section at one of the major East Coast News sites, where people could write down their thoughts. I went to it hoping to find comfort. But instead I found mean-spirited vitriol and a rabid discussion concerning gun-control. Is this how we in America respond to tragedy? By giving our own self-exalting position on an "issue"? Is the opportunity to make a political point more important than feeling grief and sympathy and loss? People died! A university and a community have suffered an extraordinary loss! And there are people who look upon that as just another opportunity to voice their opinion and political agenda? It's just not right.