Paying Our respects

Paying Our Respects

My wife, daughter, and I went to VT to get my son. We were joined by my sister-in-law and my niece.

So many people have said that words don't do the scene justice. Let me then just paint a few pictures, snapshots from this afternoon.

We stood in the spot across Stanger Street from McBryde (aka back in the day- PAB) looking towards Norris and Burress tunnel. That's where my son stood and watched the events. He was exiting McBryde at 9:42 when the first shots rang out there.

We stood by the police tape in silence and gazed at the open classroom windows. Stark. Open. Empty. A state trooper sat in his car on the grass guarding the scene. A few people milled past, many "journalists;" many with tears.

With many tears we walked to the Drillfield a few yards away and just stopped and took in the scene and cried some more. There was a prayer gathering in the middle, another gathering by War Memorial, and the main gathering in front of Burress. Somewhere the reverent silence was broken by a man preaching from a booming loudspeaker for us all to
repent and embrace God's plan.

Large white painted planks were set up on the Drillfield surrounding the bugler's stand. Personal messages to loved ones, friends and the Hokie Nation were written there as a memorial to the enormity of the tragedy.

32 Hokie Stones were placed in a sem-circle with flowers upon each.

Mourners, including my family and me, wandered around the message boards. Media whores trailed us. Once, during a moment of intense emotion and tears a man dressed in a black suit and tie with a microphone came up behind me and whispered in my ear, "Excuse me, sir. Did you lose a family member here Monday?"

I glanced at him and his microphone. I couldn't believe that he was asking me that question there and then. I replied something like, "Yes, 32 members of my family were lost."

"I see," the media whore whispered.

"You see, this is a very special place. We are one family."

"I can see that. Why is it so special to you?"

"It's hard to say exactly. I went to school here; my wife went to school here. My son goes to school here. Most of my brothers and sisters went to school here. My sister and brother-in-law worked here. My sister-in-law went to school here...this place is the most
special place I know."

Business time.

He whispered, ""I'm from a television station in Hampton Roads. Would you mind saying all of that to me on the air?"

"No thank you."

Pointing to my sister-in-law, who was just as emotion racked as I, he said, "Do you think I could talk to your wife?"

"No, I don't think so."

We milled around for another half hour or so before slowly making our way back past Norris. The front doors were open and troopers scurried about. Slowly, we made our way to our car and then home.


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Interestingly earlier in the day, I had run in to Valley View Mall in Roanoke to pick up my broken camera that had been repaired before heading to campus. As I ran in, a Japanese man ran over to me.

"Excuse me, sir (I was wearing my Virginia Tech Gobblers shirt), I'm from Japanese TV, could you talk with me for a moment."

"No thank you."

I felt guilty about going away abruptly from the kind gentleman, so after I got my camera, I went back to him and explained pretty much what I said to the guy on the Drillfield. This man told me that he understood completely. He patted me on my back, and I ran off to to VT.

*********************

My heart aches for those lost and those who may believe they've lost some part of their soul. I know we'll all recover, but I'm a realist enough to know that healing will take much, much time.

I'll be back later to post some pictures that we took today.


In the meantime, here's a link to a commentary from Will at Techsideline.com

I've been a part of Will's online Tech community since 1996. He has a way of explaining things. This should be a free link.

http://subscr.techsideline.com/news_archive/showArticle-2824.php