Today is the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech campus shootings that left 33 students and faculty dead and an entire community traumatized.
The day is being observed in Blacksburg in a number of ways. Some students are gathering in small groups and remembering. The University community held a ceremony to mark the moments the shootings occured.
Scott Russell, the Episcopal Campus Chaplain at the University has written a reflection on the experience.
“There is no manual. I checked. There is no manual that could have told me how to deal with a day like April 16, 2007, or the days and weeks and months that have followed. After five years of ministry with the students, faculty, staff and administration of Virginia Tech, I knew this campus and this town quite well. But on that cold, blustery April morning, none of us knew exactly how to respond.
When tragedies happen without warning, we often are left feeling unprepared and powerless. April 16 was more akin to an earthquake than a hurricane. We had no advance warning, no forecasters to tell us what to expect. Even worse, what we in Blacksburg experienced was at its very core an un-natural disaster. As the news of 10, then 20 and finally 33 dead came out, I didn’t know how to pray, except for grace, lots of grace.”
Read the rest of Russell’s essayhere.