Thoughts from a Virginia Tech Alum
Okay, so I’m not technically an alum. I never graduated from Tech. But I did attend Virginia Tech for three years and it has been in my blood for decades. I’ve screamed and cheered in Lane Stadium. I’ve slipped and slid across the drill field on chilly, snow covered mornings. I’ve played pool and chowed down at the Hokie House. Virginia Tech is a second home to me. And someone has come into my house, MY HOUSE, and mowed down my brother’s and sister’s in cold blood. They have used this historical, beautiful campus as a backdrop for gut curdling evil.
So many people, friends and strangers alike, keep asking me how I feel. “Didn’t you go to Tech?” “I see you have a Tech license plate.” “So you went to Tech huh?” all of these are paired with pitying, half hearted smiles of attempted comfort.
I don’t want comfort.
I want justice.
I want the person who did this to still be alive. I want him to suffer the razor sharp edge of our collective grief. I want to him to feel the sting of newly raw flesh, laid bare by the cowardice of one poor excuse for a man.
Yes, I’m angry. I’m beyond angry. I’m absolutely enraged. I feel cheated of justice. I want explanations, and yet at the same time I am tired of everyone pushing the blame on others. The simple fact of the matter is, this person, this poor excuse for any real soul, decided to commit a horrendous act. He planned it, he organized it, he scheduled it out. He is the only one to blame.
To the media, it is time to step back. To show my school the respect it so desperately deserves. Give us privacy to grieve and in doing so, to eventually heal. We will not divide our loyalties. We will not throw our own under the out of control bus of blame, so stop pushing. We will support our school to the very end. It is what we do, it is who we are.
We are the Hokies.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Awesomely written. I am so sorry that this animal went into your home and killed your brothers and sisters. I am so sorry that you are hurt. I completely agree with all that you have written.