04.17.07
“We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while . . .”
I just wanted to share with you what I felt was an incredibly moving quote from Poet Nikki Giovanni, a professor and the final speaker at the Virginia Tech memorial service today. This is taken from an article at CNN.com, the full text of which can be found here. I just felt they merited repeating.
“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 sad enough to know we must laugh again.“
Since this is technically a sports and entertainment blog, I’ll leave you with, in my opinion, is one of the most moving moments in television history, and, sadly, all too appropriate due to yesterday’s events.
What follows is a speech President Bartlet gives after an attack on a fictional college campus in an episode from season 4 of The West Wing. Change a few words and he could be talking about what transpired at Virginia Tech yesterday.
“‘Joy cometh in the morning,’ scripture tells us. I hope so. I don’t know if life would be worth living if it didn’t. And I don’t yet know who set off the bomb at Kennison State. I don’t know if it’s one person or ten, and I don’t know what they want. All I know for sure, all I know for certain, is that they weren’t born wanting to do this. There’s evil in the world, there’ll always be, and we can’t do anything about that. But there’s violence in our schools, too much mayhem in our culture, and we can do something about that. There’s not enough character, discipline, and depth in our classrooms; there aren’t enough teachers in our classrooms. There isn’t nearly enough, not nearly enough, not nearly enough money in our classrooms, and we can do something about that. We’re not doing nearly enough, not nearly enough to teach our children well, and we can do better, and we must do better, and we will do better, and we will start this moment today! They weren’t born wanting to do this.
“…More than anytime in recent history America’s destiny is not of our own choosing. We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedoms and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people’s strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. Forty-four people were killed a couple hours ago at Kennison State University; three swimmers from the men’s team were killed and two others are in critical condition. When after having heard the explosion from their practice facility they ran into the fire to help get people out…ran into the fire. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They are our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we’re reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars. God bless their memory, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. Thank you.”
vince said,
April 18, 2007 at 7:32 pm
It is too bad that Nikki Giovanni is trying to use this situation as a platform to promote her own political agenda. It is supposed to be about the victims, not Giovanni’s political ideology.
Big D said,
April 18, 2007 at 8:30 pm
What does the Post Office and a school have in common? They’re both “gun free” zones.