Regarding Virginia Tech

I haven't really wanted to post much about this, because the internet is full of people's opinions...and really, it's too early to form opinions about this. There ought to be a self-imposed moratorium before spewing about stuff like this to the world at large, because we are too close to what happened at this point.

Besides the obvious feelings of deep sorrow and grief for the victims and their families (and in a sense all the students of Virginia Tech are victims of this), and,yes, sorrow for his family, because they will likely spend the rest of their lives blaming themselves for not doing X, Y and Z differently, I really only have two things to say about this at this point in time.

1. NBC should never have shown that video. I don't say this from a legal standpoint; I'm sure they were in their legal rights to do it. I don't say that from the "other sickos are going to get ideas from this" standpoint, although that's probably true also. I don't even say that from the perspective of "you're victimizing the VT kids again."

I say that because those images should not be allowed into anyone's psyche. They affect us. And not in a good way. A few years ago, when a hostage (Nicholas Berg?) was beheaded and the video made its way to the internet, I didn't watch it. But I knew people who did, and they all said the same thing: I wish I had never seen it. But the damage was done and they couldn't erase the image from their minds. It haunted them.

There is evil in the world. Some of us participate in it knowingly, and others get poisoned by it like so much carbon monoxide. The end result is the same: you let that stuff into your head, and it will never let go. I had a friend who saw one of the Faces of Death videos as a teenager, and she still had nightmares about it years later. Listen, life is hard enough. Don't borrow trouble. You'll have enough of your own. If you haven't watched the video footage, I implore you: DON'T.

2. I'm sure many stories about heroism in the face of this monstrosity will surface in the coming weeks, but I am so touched by the sacrifice made by Professor Liviu Librescu. As I'm sure you have heard by now, he was a 76-year old Holocaust survivor who used himself as a barricade so his students could get away. It cost him his life. I heard one person say that he was a true gentleman, and that is clearly true.

I have a book of poems that was my grandmother's. I love it, because it's full of uncool poems by Victorian poets. There are poems about strength of purpose, duty, morality. It's great stuff. (But why would we read THAT, when we can read some piece of non-rhyming crap about how sucky life is?)

One of my favorite poems in the book is below, and I really see this applying to Professor Librescu, although I never met him. May God welcome His son Liviu into Heaven, and wipe away his tears. And may God bless his wife and family, and be with them in their grief.

"How Did You Die?" by Edmund Vance Cooke

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce,
Or a trouble is what you make it.
And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts,
But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that?
Come up with a smiling face.
It's nothing against you to fall down flat,
But to lie there--that's disgrace.
The harder you're thrown, why the higher you bounce;
Be proud of your blackened eye!
It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts;
It's how did you fight and why?

And though you be done to death, what then?
If you battled the best you could;
If you played your part in the world of men,
Why, the Critic will call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he's slow or spry,
It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts,
But only, how did you die?