I’ll never forget April 20th, 1999. The day of the Columbine shooting. My children were all in elementary school. I sat in front of the television all day crying. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. Though Colorado and high school children seemed eons away, that day’s tragedy is burned in my memory for all time.
Yesterday, at about 10 am, my daughter called me to ask if I’d seen the news. I hadn’t, so I switched it on. At that time, the news channels were saying there had been a shooting at Virgina Tech, one dead and 7-8 wounded. I couldn’t believe it. VT is right down the road. We know loads of kids there. We know plenty of parents that have kids there. We know tons of alumni. Within 10 houses of ours, we know 3 kids that currently attend VT. Virginian’s tend to go to Virginia schools, and VT is one of the top schools of choice for kids in our area. As my daughter and I continued to watch the news and talk on the phone, the death toll rose. By early afternoon, some news channels were saying 32 dead.
Rescue efforts had been hampered by high winds and injured kids could not get life-flighted out to trauma centers. Shortly after the reports of 32 dead, my cable went out. An hour later, the power went out, as a transformer blew up just 3 doors down. My husband left work to pick up our youngest from school, as the fire department had our road closed. As the four of us sat there, without electricity, we began to talk about the day’s events. My 2 youngest daughters (freshman and junior) recounted their day at school. My youngest had a friend whose sister went to VT and she cried all day. The teachers at my middle daughter’s high school would not let them see the television, but news traveled anyway. They reported how they too, heard the death toll rise as the day went on.
At one point, we went outside to see what was happening with the live electrical wire in our street. A neighbor recounted a story of a son of a family friend. Apparently, he’d been shot in the arm, and was one of the few that survived in the classroom. Most of the kids were dead, and at some point, he decided to pretend he was dead too. I later found out that the boy was Derek O’Dell, who is currently all over the news. He graduated from my middle daughter’s High School in 2005.
As the day progressed, we had little news, due to our power outage. We began to light candles to give us light in the house. It had been an odd day. When the transformer blew up, my daughter and I had both been outside and it was really frightening. We had no power and were, at least for a time, trapped in the neighborhood, with police tape blocking our way out.
It seemed appropriate to have the electricity out. It seemed appropriate to lack access to our normal ways of life. It seemed appropriate, on this day, to recognize how helpless we really are. How fragile our constructed, systemized notions of civilization really are. To realize that our dependence on our modern way of life, is not only is an illusion, but is a hindrance to our recognition of our only true source of consolation and confidence.
Virginia Tech and college kids are not eons away, as Columbine seemed that day 8 years ago. They are both right here….in my house….in my neighborhood…..in my community.
Today, as Virginia Tech, the community, and the nation grieves, I hug my kids a little more. Life is momentary. Life’s comforts are a trick of the light. Safety is a figment of my imagination.
Today, my prayer is simply this:
Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Rom 15:5-6)
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