We are Virginia Tech

It’s hard for me to comprehend that today marks 3 years since the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The memory of sitting in class that fateful day is just as vivid as if it were yesterday. It feels like a dream to me and I often find myself in denial about everything. It was a nightmare that I woke up to…and it was true. How could this happen to my school? Those were my fellow Hokies. That was my campus. My Hokies were on national headlines. For three days after the shooting my roommates/friends and I were glued to the TV. 3 days passed and we were numbed, walking around like zombies and only going through the motions. We turned off the TV and I haven’t turned it on much since then. I still feel the numbness, the pain, the disbelief and the horror, yet today marks the day that I move forward. Today I will remember that fateful day in attempts of moving on with life and how God is moving and working. I will pray and be thankful for God’s Glory. Without him we are nothing and he promised that he will never forsake us.

4.16.07 marks the day of a tremendous journey in my life, MY run to the cross. After 4.16 I hit my lowest low, and I can also testify that through this marathon of sorts, I’ve been brought closer to the Lord than I have ever been in my life.

I ran. For over 2 years I ran. A problem came up, I ran. I ran to Blacksburg. I ran to Roanoke. I ran to Luray. I ran to Staunton. I ran to boys. I ran to alcohol. I literally ran on the pavement. I ran to anywhere that was physically somewhere else than where I currently was. Running is exhausting. I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. In August of ‘09 I started running in a different direction….to the cross. My life has been dramatically different since finally understanding God’s love in a different way and having an intimate relationship with him. I give God all the glory for bringing me out of the depths and into his arms.

As I end this post today I will leave you with the poem written by Nikki Giovanni. Chills still run up my spine as I remember the day she delivered this at the convocation address.

Delivered April 17, 2007

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.