We ARE Virginia Tech

April 16, 2007

It was a day that began like hundreds of others, but ended in disbelief and sorrow.  Thirty two people filled with hope and passion died at the hand of one filled with despair and evil.

Virginia Tech is my alma mater, and I bleed Chicago maroon and orange.  I loved my years there, and there is just something that binds Hokies together.  Maybe it's the memories of that biting, bone-chilling Blacksburg wind that whips across the Drill Field in the dead of winter... maybe it's the mutual frustration of football wins-turned-losses in the final seconds of the game... maybe it's the gorgeous springs and glorious autumns in our beautiful Blue Ridge mountains...  Whatever the glue is that holds us, the world caught a glimpse of it three years ago today.

"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, University Distinguished Professor 

Thank you, Dr Giovanni, for your words of encouragement. They captured our heartbreak but helped us refocus.

Thank you, Dr Steger, for your leadership.  Your task was burdensome but you led with strength and grace.

Thank you, Jesus, for Your sacrifice and for Your victory. You give us hope in the face of an evil we can't fathom.  If it wasn't for You this world would surely crush us.