Op-Ed Virginia Tech tragedy lost on Middkids

Author: Mary Lane

I am a Virginian first and an American second - anyone with even a cursory knowledge of who I am knows that this is true. I have a Virginia flag in my room and Virginia bumper stickers on my binder and coffee mug. My family has been involved with Virginia Tech for decades. We are intense Hokie fans who wear the Jerseys and shout for the Fighting Gobblers. Nearly everyone who is born in Virginia, especially the central and southern parts of the commonwealth, is a Hokie or Cavalier. Virginia is an area of the United States rich with history, rivalries, honor, respect, God and country. Virginia is both American and Southern, and no poor attempts I make at articulation could ever hope to explain the complexities of Southern and Virginian culture.

It is through these cultural lenses that I saw Cho Seung-hui's massacre of 32 members of the Virgina Tech community on April 16, 2007. Thirty-two people. That is roughly the equivalent of first floor Battell North. All dead. The nook of the country I considered safe and stable had been invaded.

I have a very large number of friends who attend Virginia Tech. When my mother informed me of the tragedy, I spent much of the day calling, texting and Facebook-ing friends from home to see if they were safe. Thankfully, they were all ok. One friend from high school was enrolled in the German engineering class from which few escaped alive. He woke up Monday morning, firmly decided against crawling out of his bed for such an early class, contentedly went back to sleep and unknowingly saved his own life.

It has been hard dealing with this tragedy at a school like Middlebury where so few people are from the South and even fewer are Virginians. While I would like to believe that, as members of the College community have stated, everyone on campus sympathizes with the victims as "members of the human family," I know that this is sadly not true. There are those who have made it frustrating, have declared to me their opinions that this is indicative of America and how "screwed up" she is, instead of focusing on the killer himself or the tragic nature of the massacre.

Very few students seem to have been significantly upset by this heinous act. They have too much work, too little sleep and too many distractions. It makes me sad and worried to recall how, after the Columbine shootings, teachers and students were all abuzz with the news and worried for their peers in Colorado.

From what I have heard from others and from my own classes, very few professors have even mentioned the incident in class. I had a presentation due the day after the tragedy, and I felt sure that when I explained my situation to my professor, she would let me present the following day. However, she merely told me I could present after all the other students, giving me only a few frantic extra minutes to prepare.

That being said, I have been incredibly thankful for the supportive friends, including my commons residential advisor and Commons dean, who have helped me come to terms with the havoc that has shattered my peaceful home community.

I love the Hokies. I love my Commonwealth. Sic semper tyrannis.

Mary Lane is a first-year who hails from Lynchburg Va.