Remembering

One year ago today the tragedy at Virginia Tech struck. I am not a graduate of VT, but I do have lots of friends and family who have or are attending. Also, over the years in the course of my job, I have worked closely with many of the professors and staff at VT. I am as sad today as I was a year ago. I believe the best way to honor those students and staff members who lost their lives on this day last year is to again read and hear the words of Nikki Giovanni, celebrated author and Virginia Tech University Distinguished Professor. Her poem of honor is listed below, and the YouTube video of her delivering her poem at the rememberance ceremony is below that.

Nikki Giovanni’s Chant-Poem

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 sad enough
to know 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 a rogue army
Neither does the baby elephant
watching his community be devastated 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 hearts 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 imagination and the possibilities
We will continue to invent the future
through our blood and tears
Through all this sadness,
We are The Hokies!
We will …prevail!
We will prevail
We will prevail
We ARE… Virginia Tech.