The news monster is not our friend. It does not tell us what happened with its hand on our shoulder, but instead grabs us by our arms and shakes us, "Did you see this? It could be you. Or you. Let me show you again. Let me speak louder. I have experts. I have statistics. I know tragedies, let me repeat them for you."
The news monster does not repeat, "This many lived. These are our heroes,our victims. Let us think about compassion. Let us think about who has left us and who remains."
Instead, the news monster says, "Power. Let me repeat pain's name, let me make him a superstar. Icon. Infamous. Did I stutter? I'll repeat myself. Let's focus on his face, again and again. Did you see him? Who does he look like? He's not from here. Be afraid."
The news monster does not say compassion and strength. The news monster does not say peace or generosity. It does not say love your neighbor, but warns, "Save yourself."
The news monster does not hold you or tell you, "You will feel better. Take your time. Grieve. Cry. Heal. Love."
The news monster whispers, "Ratings. Watch me." It wonders what bubbles from the blood. The news monster is there licking it for every undeserved cent.
_____________
I don't want to focus on person who stole these lives, but the lives of those who were lost & those who lived.
A list of those who left us too early
Virginia Tech University
Virginia Tech Memorial Website
* * *
We are Virginia Tech.
We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.
We are Virginia Tech.
We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again.
We are Virginia Tech.
We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; 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 Hokier Nation embraces our own 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, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness.
We are the Hokies.
We will prevail, we will prevail.
We are Virginia Tech. "
--Nikki Giovanni
