Virginia Polytechnic Institute. "We will prevail."

A week has passed since the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University campus was ravaged. However, students, staff, faculty, administrators, and alum maintain, they were not destroyed. They are, nevertheless, devastated.  Students received much support from people throughout the nation.

Throughout the week, students who have remained in Blacksburg have found support in a variety of places on campus and in the larger community, as local vendors and schools from across the country have shown their support in many different ways.

On Tuesday, at the convocation, President Bush, along with Gov. Tim Kaine, Vice President for student affairs Zenobia Hikes, and distinguished professor Nikki Giovanni, spoke to the crowd that filled Cassell Coliseum, and flowed over into Lane Stadium.

Bush encouraged the community of mourners by stressing “normalcy” in the community. He added, “Such a day will come.”

The largest response from the crowd came after Giovanni spoke and performed a dramatic reading. Her poem reminded the crowd that tragedy strikes everyone. After ending with “We are Virginia Tech,” the crowd began a series of cheers, shouting, “Let’s go Hokies.”

The esteemed Professor enthralled and embraced the crowd.  She spoke the words that guide us all. The Virginia Tech community was her audience and perchance the focus for her words; yet, the message might be considered our human mission.

Transcript of Nikki Giovanni’s Convocation address
Delivered April 17, 2007
We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

I too do not understand.  I cannot comprehend why difficulties enter our lives.  I know not why we must breathe our last breathe at the hands of a gunman.  Acquired immune deficiency syndrome [AIDS] confuses me.  The idea of war racks my brain.  The reality of brutal battles stresses my soul.  Illness and injury boggle my mind.  Man’s inhumanity to man is incomprehensible.  Nature wreaks havoc and this causes me to wonder.

Perhaps, I can only trust that the reasons for such tragedies will reveal them selves upon my passing.  Nonetheless, I do believe those associated with Virginia Polytechnic are granted great sustenance from those whose physical presence can be seen no more on Earth.

I have faith that those gunned down are our finest teachers. Their passing may provide us with a path towards greater understanding.

While in the human form, we cannot fully comprehend why what occurs does. Death does not make sense. When a person takes his or her last breathe before they have had a chance to truly live; it seems so unfair. If a person has experienced much hardship and has been spared in the face of death, we have hope. When we witness such individuals serve many, we are thankful that they are alive. Yet, when the time comes and their days on G-d’s green grass end, it is challenging to grasp.  We may muse, ‘What is the purpose.’ Why would anyone even wish to terminate the live of another.

I do not know.  I have no answers. With each passing moment, I am more certain I cannot comprehend our existence here on Earth. There is little that makes sense to me.

Yet, I am comforted by  my experience, observations, and what others share of their circumstances.

In my life, much has happened that did not seem just or fair. However, I learned from what I once thought awful.  In my own life, much was not as I wished it would be. Tremendous sorrows befall.

I too mourn the loss of innocent lives that were too short.   I cry for these vibrant individuals; they did not need to die.  Oh, to be cut down in your prime, no matter what the age, is sad beyond belief.  I do not negate the sorrow that Seung-Hui Cho felt. Oh, how his family must be suffering.

Any life is of infinite value.  I think, although I may not like the actions of many, I must love their being, for oh, but for the grace of G-d go I.

Please Peruse the References . . .

Betsy L. Angert
BeThink.org