This was written over two years ago, for myself and no one else. Given recent events I have revisted it.


Reflection on the Virginia Tech massacre of April 16th, 2007
(written on the 18th of April, 2007)



Two days ago, in Blacksburg, Virginia, thirty-two people were killed on the campus of Virginia Tech University. I have but a few words for the families of the departed, they are as follows:

I am sorry for your loss.

That is all. I am sorry for your loss. These are words that mean absolutely nothing. Do I feel them? Yes. So in the semantic they "mean" something, but to the families and friends who have lost loved ones in this tragic event they mean nothing. They are just words. They are hollow. I'm using them to make myself feel better about an incident that I had nothing to do with, that I could not have prophesized, involving people I do not know, in a community that I have never visited. So with due reverence and respect I offer the one service that will mean something: Let me be the first one to forget.
We all will forget, everyone outside of those who were directly involved. We will be inundated with news stories profiling this assassin and each individual who fell victim to him. It will be heart wrenching... for exactly two weeks. Two weeks of agony and then the stories will stop. People will have moved on to some other tragedy. Political candidates will need the air time. There is no more money to be milked from your pain. Sure there will be memorial services and, perhaps, an anniversary moment of silence, and a mourning that will resonate in your community for generations. You will not forget, the rest of us will.
So, perhaps, in the following two weeks it will make it easier on you to have one less person hounding you about your emotions, to have one less camera in your face in your time of trial, to let you mourn the ones you loved without my knowledge, simply because I don't need to know about it.
Today in Baghdad, Iraq 183 persons were killed when four large bombs exploded.

I am sorry for your loss.