We Will Prevail

Today is a sad, but hopeful day here at Virginia Tech.

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Today marks the second anniversary of a tragedy that occurred on a blustery cold Monday morning.

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The Hokie Spirit is alive and kicking, and I am proud to be a part of this community, this sense of family, this ownership of and sense of protection for this valley and everything that entails.

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Never would I wish this on anyone else. Never could I say I would expect anything like this to happen here.

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But no place or town or school or home is immune, and we found that out the hard way.

Heartache is a part of life, no matter where you live, work, or go to school.

Tragedies will occur no matter how hard you try to prevent them.

Life is not perfect, nor ever will be.

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I did not lose a roommate or best friend that day, but I did know a few of the victims through working on campus. Nick and I weren’t even in town the day it happened; we were in Winchester with his dad who was recovering from his open heart surgery. We had no idea anything was happening until a friend from Texas called to check on us and we finally found a television in a waiting room in the hospital. After everything that had happened that weekend with Nick’s dad, and then this, the only thing I felt was shock.

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How could this be happening there?

Nothing made sense.

I still don’t know why this happened, nor does anyone else.

I can only say that through tragedy comes togetherness.

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Through pain comes healing.

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Without evil, we would know no good.

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.

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14 comments

  1. Such a chilling, devastating occurrence. Thank you for sharing this tribute though.

  2. I can’t believe that was 2 years ago already!!

    I visited the campus A LONG time ago – and actually thought of going to Old Dominion too for field hockey – I love that part of the country – both my parents are from Virginia originally.

    Great post! :D

  3. I cannot believe it has been 2 years already since that awful tragedy. I can still remember the day it happened and watching the news broadcast about it at work….so, so sad.

  4. I really can’t believe that was 2 years ago . . . thank you for the thoughtful post.

  5. It doesn’t seem like it has been 2 years since the tragedy.

    I was close to friends and family of some of the victims of the Westside Middle School shooting in Arkansas back in 1998, and, although time has certainly helped, I don’t think anyone will easily forget the horror of that day.

    My thoughts and prayers are with all of those touched by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Thank you for the very touching post.

  6. I’m originally from the Roanoke area, and VT has been on my mind all day. Thanks for posting this, take care

  7. {{{{HUGS}}}} my friend.

    This was a beautiful post.

  8. I cannot believe it has been 2 years… Joe’s brother graduated a couple weeks after it happened and I remember the feeling I had walking around campus that weekend. I’ll never forget it.

  9. Unbelievable that it has been 2 years already. Although I’ve never been to Virginia Tech, nor do I live anywhere near there, my next door neighbor was one of the victims, I’m definitely thinking about Julia a lot today, what a terrible thing to have happened.

  10. Beautiful tribute, I can’t believe it’s been 2 years, it’s so recent in my memory.

  11. We Huskies are thinking about you Hokies today–we are with you in grief, in healing and in hope.

    Fifi at NIU

  12. I remember that day and it was sad and scary. You are right, it could happen anywhere.

  13. Thank you for sharing this. We all forget too quickly…

  14. I remember how terrifying that day was. This post was a beautiful tribute to the victims of this tragedy.

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