A Day to Celebrate Life
By Austin W.G. Morton
"I still can't believe it actually happened," I whispered to a friend beside me, my eyes blankly pouring over the contents of the April 16 remembrance Web site. I dragged my cursor over a sea of familiar faces and one year later, I still don't understand.
Sometimes, I temporarily misplace my thoughts from that day, as if to give my tired mind a rest. For those brief moments, I walk around blissfully ignorant. But the reminders always find me: the sound of a distant ambulance, a black ribbon, a crowded memorial.
Then it hits me, like a bucket of ice-cold water, and I remember what that ribbon means.
People always ask if things have "gone back to normal" at Virginia Tech. Frankly, I'm never sure how to respond to that question without offering up another one: What is normal?
If by normal they mean the same, then no. Things will never be the same. This simple fact has nothing to do with being morbid or overly dramatic; however, it has everything to do with a community that has overcome the unimaginable and emerged with a unique understanding of the value of life. It is a community of which I am immensely proud to be a part.
That said, the anniversary of the shootings should be neither a tribute to overcoming abnormality nor a mandate for depression. Rather, it should be a celebration of life: One whole day when people don't take each other for granted. One whole day when we live for those we have lost.
By Amy L. Kovac |
April 12, 2008; 11:33 AM ET
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Austin W.G. Morton
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