Hokies

A terrible tragedy occurred on Monday at Virginia Tech. A man killed 32 innocent students, himself and injured many others. I am still in shock that something this horrible could happen. What scares me the most is that it can happen anywhere. I do not know anyone who goes to VT, fortunately, but a couple of my friends do. My good friend Katie is from Virginia. The killer and two people who were killed were from her home town. Although she did not attend school with any of them, she played basketball against one of the girls and the other girl attended her church. The killer, incidently, lived about a mile from her house, and she had no idea. Katie knows a boy who graduated two years ahead of her that was in one of the class rooms in Norris Hall, where the majority of the fatalities occurred. He jumped out of one of the windows to save himself and broke both of his ankles. My friend Sammy played soccer for three years with a girl that was shot three times. Her friend survived, had a major surgury on Monday and has since stabilized. It is amazing how a tragedy like this can hit so close to home for so many people across the country.

Today I was given an amazing opportunity, I went to a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show. The show was a special report on Virginia Tech. I feel as though it was very well done. Oprah did live interviews, via satellite, with various people from Virginia Tech, A Columbine survivor and two renowned doctors. One boy, a survivor named Colin, gave an interview from his hospital bed. He was shot three times. He was in French class, (which was the class with the most fatalities.) I was so chilled when he described what happened and I could not believe how brave he was. He said that the gunman came in and everyone hit the floor. He walked from desk to desk, shooting nearly everyone multiple times. Colin was first shot in the knee, then played dead. The killer left for about ten minutes and then came back to shoot more rounds. Colin was shot again in the shoulder, and then a third time but I forgot where. I could not even imagine having that much courage. Oprah interviewed some friends and family members of students and a faculty member that were killed. It was absolutely heartwrenching to see how torn apart many families have become after the gruesome events that happened on Monday.

After the satellite interviews, Oprah spoke with a boy and his father in the studio about Columbine. He had survived the shooting, but his younger sister had not. He has used the awful experience of Columbine to speak out against violence in schools. He travels around the country and talks to thousands of students each month about Columbine and how violence is not the answer. He spoke beautifully during the interview with Oprah and it made me so happy to see that he could turn such a horrific event into a positive thing. He said that in a couple of instances, people have been so moved by his speaking after events that they have brought forth hit lists. His program has helped to prevent so many "Columbines" and I truly applaud his efforts.

The thing about this tragedy that is bothering me is how the media is representing this story. Many people are blaming Virginia Tech for not properly notifying the students. I think that the "woulda, coulda, shoulda," aspect is being brought about too strongly when really, the media should focus on the fact that this tragedy really happened. More attention should be focused on the actual healing process rather than what should have been done to prevent what happened. I hope this tragedy will raise much more awareness towards the seriousness of this issue.

Please keep the students, faculty, families and everyone involved or affected by the Virginia Tech Tragedy in your thoughts and prayers.

-Meaghan