Sympathies for VT - prayers

I am so saddened by the horrific events, which occured this week at Virginia Tech. My heart is sad as my brain struggles to understand the reasons, the loss, the bravery and the selfless acts of some. My thoughts and prayers are with all the families, the school and the world in light of this tragedy.

I found her address remarkable:

Tragedy at Virginia Tech

Transcription of Nikki Giovanni's Convocation address

Delivered April 17, 2007

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devestated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

This picture was taken last night at a vigil. So beautiful and so devistated: the angels, the wounded, the other students, the faculty, the parents, the school, the city, the state, the nation and the world - mourn. Weep at the loss of such talent - lost but NOT forgotten.

How lovely and appropriate. How sad and enlightening. 'Let's Go Hokies!' God Bless.

pictures from random sites and the speech from Virginia Tech.