Thoughts and Videos on Virginia Tech

We all have heard the story of Liviu Lebrescu, the Holocaust survivor who blocked the door with his body, and died at VT to save his students.

On April 18, 2007 U.S. President George Bush honored Librescu
at a memorial service held at the US Holocaust Museum
to a crowd that included many Holocaust survivors:
"That day we saw horror, but we also saw quiet acts of courage.
We saw this courage in a teacher named Liviu Librescu.
With the gunman set to enter his class, this brave professor blocked the door with his body while his students fled to safety.
On the Day of Remembrance, this Holocaust survivor gave his own life so that others may live.
And this morning we honor his memory and we take strength from his example."

Video Headline: Hero's Story

There are others who also were heroes:

Video Headline: Hokie Heroes

But another kind of hero also needs to be mentioned... and just as the Amish did when the gunman attacked their school, this man has done the same.... I often wonder if I have the courage to emulate these people for something so horrendous! Though I have learned that forgiveness is a CHOICE, not a feeling, and it does NOT mean 'approval' of the action of the other person... I still find it hard to live out. I still find myself struggling. And I have not had to face what this man and all the others have had to!

Video Headline: A Father's Pain

And then there is the family of the one who caused this... remember the earlier story about A Father's Pain? Too often we judge the parents as having failed, when it could simply be that it is solely the guilty person. How many families have several children, all but one are good and successful... Not knowing this family, we need to remember that they, too, have lost their son, AND have to live with what he did, perhaps what they failed to do.... or perhaps not anything at all that they did or did not do. Evil does exist. There are some who choose it, no matter what.

Video Headline: BYA  Because You Asked: What information is available about family of Virginia Tech killer?

Then we listen to the names, to the brilliance of these 32 plus 1 people.... a few of them in this video piece. Undergraduates. Graduate students. PhD students. Professors. Some with families of their own. Not just from the US. From many countries. VT has chosen to graduate each of the deceased students in the field that they were studying in at the time of their deaths, and to issue the diplomas at the graduation ceremony.

So many gone, for what? We may never really have any answers. We may never really know... There IS evil in the world. Liviu Lebrescu lived through it long ago, and recognized it when he heard it begin. Though the person was different, the source was the same. Evil does exist.

Video Headline: Virginia Tech Update

There is another aspect to this that we need to think about, though, and that is the fact that we have forgotten that we have a right to defend ourselves, and that we must stand up to evil. Mark Steyn (author of America Alone )  was a guest of Neal Cavuto. I think that in this politically correct and very passive times, we need to listen, and remember what he has to say!

Video Headline: Confronting Evil


May they rest in peace.
May their families have peace, and many arms and shoulders to support them through this.
May God have mercy on Cho Seung-Hui.

God bless!