April 22, 2007 8:30 PM
News from Virginia Tech
I spent some time with Ben's girlfriend Anna Friday. When they shut down classes for the rest of the week at Virginia Tech, she came home to spend time with her family. They are a solid VT family with a couple of graduates before her. And Anna's younger sister will be at VT next year.
I haven't watched a single minute of TV coverage of VT. I've read a little here and there. And I heard part of the convocation on the radio - Bush's speech and the odd assortment of religious figures who spoke (A Muslim spoke first, praying in Arabic and quoting the Koran - which seemed exceedingly self-consciously PC to me. Followed by a Buddhist woman, two female rabbis, and finally a Lutheran minister. That was the entire line-up - no Catholic or Evangelical representative - as though only 20% of the student population might be Christian. Like I said, self-consciously PC as is the manner of campus life today).
Anna told me about Governor Tim Kaine's speech - about how he filled the students with hope, and how he mentioned the story of Job, as well as Jesus's words on Calvary: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I had heard some moments of a press conference with Tim Kaine on the radio which really impressed me with his leadership. Anna's glowing report of his speech at convo made me curious. I looked it up and indeed, it is remarkable. You can see it here. This governor has my complete respect.
I asked Anna how the students felt about university president Charles Steeger and she gave a big smile and two thumbs up. She says the students back him 100% and are not at all interested in the blame game.
As has been pointed out, with 26,000 students Virginia Tech is like a small city. When you think about it, locking down the entire campus because of what looked like a terrible but isolated incident would be like shutting down Leesburg because one person was shot in an apartment building. How could anyone know the gunman would be a mass murderer two hours later?
I was so happy to know that - according to Anna - the students themselves were not allowing their grief to turn into blame. Anna looked very somber, but still peaches and cream. I was so glad to see her - she is an important part of our extended-through-friendship family.
I love that when she writes, she calls me Momma C.
Oh, and I loved that in the interviews I heard with students, they always said Yes, Sir and Yes, Ma'am to the reporters.
I love Virginia so much!
Posted in Current Affairs, Family | Permalink
