What can I say about Virginia Tech that hasn’t already been said? The media has been awash in the traditional video, words, and people - fleeing students, the sound of gunfire, mourners, quotes, sound bites, pundits. There was consolation, speculation, accusation, pontification. We saw rage, bravery, anguish and strength. But as a nation, we saw very little hope.
That’s understandable. It’s hard to have hope in the wake of disasters - and make no mistake, that’s exactly what the Virginia Tech shootings were. It was not an unpreventable disaster, but like a hurricane or a tsunami, it caught us off guard and forced us to face the senseless death of innocents. It’s jarring for us, as all young deaths are, and it rips apart the carefully insulated bubble in which many of us live. People die in any number of places, for any number of reasons. But until now, we did not equate college with horror and madness. Now many of us will add this to a never-ending list of fears that revolve ceaselessly in their minds. Others will feel great compassion and send money to the memorial fund, but will still feel hollow. People will ask themselves if they’ve done enough, and even if they find themselves lacking, they still won’t know what they could have done.
But as in all disasters, what is needed now is not talk and despair, but hope and action. There was a common thread that wove all of the victims together, even as it seems that they had nothing in common. All of them, professors and students alike, were described by those who knew them as passionate. They loved life, but more than that, they sought to make it better. Many were studying with the goal of someday changing the world for the better. While we are right to mourn the fact that they will never have the chance, we should not despair without action. Instead, we should do each of these victims the greatest honor we can and work on in their stead.
It does not have to be deeds in their name. There is no need to choose, for they were all precious. Instead, take each day as a gift and bestow a gift to another. Plant a tree, write a letter, donate time, or whatever you fancy. There is no right action, and the only wrong one is to take no action at all. Memorials in stone soon lose their meaning, but deeds can last for all time.
Nothing can bring back the victims of Virginia Tech, and we will all need time to mourn their passing. But we can make sure it is time well spent.
