Being

As a nation, a world, and human beings, we are distracted, distraught, and heartbroken over the events that occured Monday at Virginia Tech. My blood runs cold as the tears well and then spill over my puffy eyes. I see the smiling faces of promising students and professors on the television screen. I wonder what they would have become. I imagine many of them would change the world, even if only by becoming tax-paying citizens.

I don't know anyone from Virginia, but I was connected to every one of them. We all are. We often take for granted the small details of our lives. We don't thank someone for holding a door for us as we rush into our offices. We don't notice the people who let us cut in front of them in a sea of cars on the interstate, setting their own journeys back by their mere kindness. These unnoticed saints are doing something that is likely second nature for them. I think about the students and professors killed at Virginia and wonder exactly how many less doors will be opened for complete strangers. I realize that those closest to the victims are losing much more than open doors, but it's important to understand that we all lose when something of this magnitude happens.

As I watch the details unfold on the daily news, the knots twisting in my stomach reminds me of other tragedies that have occurred in my lifetime. I think of 9/11, another tragedy that happened almost 1,000 miles away from me but, for its impact, might as well have happened next door. I think about Hurricane Katrina. I hadn't finished unpacking my boxes in my tiny New Orleans apartment when reports came in that a Category 5 storm was heading right toward us...toward me. I remember staring at the television for hours at a time in my temporary midwest home, watching not only the tragedy unfold, but seeing the support of a weeping world. In both incidents, like the recent events in Virginia, people of the world came together, gathering their collective hands in a psychic blanket of support for the victims. While my stomach knots and I feel the bile of anger and sadness snake up my throat, my heart swells until my chest can barely contain it. I am proud to be a part of this world. I am proud that, for the most part, differences are cast aside and people unite to show that while these lost souls may not be our brothers, sisters, friends, and family, they are people like us. They matter. These people who were not allowed the opportunity to have even minimal control of their destinies will not only be missed by those closest to them, they will be missed by all of us. We will never have the chance to thank them for opening that door. I promise them now that I will do everything in my power to carry on a legacy which would have undoubtedly included just being a good human being.

To everyone affected by this loss--in Virginia and around the world--I am truly sorry.