04-16-07

I've been thinking a lot about the third anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. Especially since church last Sunday where they talked about injustice, and we were encouraged to wrestle with some of the injustices we've dealt with. At first, it was hard for me to think of an injustice-- I've been pretty lucky really. But then I remembered that day and how even though I was 45 minutes away, and I knew that my husband was safe before the news spread through the grapevine and everyone at work was talking about it, I felt like my home at been violated. A place I had deemed safe, no longer felt safe. Sounds of firecrackers going off outside set off panic. It was more than that feeling of violation though; my heart broke for the families of the students whose lives were taken by the choice of someone else. My heart still breaks for those families and it seems really unfair and it is tough to understand. My thoughts and prayers are with those families who were forced to be a part of what happened that day.

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.

...

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.

-Nikki Giovanni