Faith Behind The Tragedy

19 April, 2007

It's tremendously sad watching the news on television about tragedy at Virginia Tech. I can not imagine how hurt the victims' families have been by this tragedy. One of the students, as I read in the news, who was killed by the mental sick shooter is Indonesian. The closed-friends and relatives described him as a kind-hearted and religious person who never hesitated to hand an help. According to the witness I read in the news, he even tried to protect some other students from shooting in minutes before he was killed. My heart goes out to his family who have been hurt by this unfortunate fate, particularly when the humble father expressed his faith by saying "this destiny may what God's willing to us. We may turn to be real arrogant and bragging too much about my son who would have been graduated from PhD school but God doesn't want us to be this way".

This morning I read email from Diane, our music director, who passed an email from Bryan, one of our choir group, who is currently studying in V-Tech. He said he is doing ok and still mourning to what has happened in his campus. He was interviewed by "Religion and Ethics" a show by PBS and was singing Dona Nobis Pacem with some other singers in this show. Well, he doesn't sing in our choir every Sunday like we do (he used to before he is going to V-Tech), but he showed up sometimes during Spring break or during his Summer vacation. It was a touching part of his email when he said, "Never 3 years ago or 3 days ago could I ever had imagined what 4/16/07 brought us. But the outcome of this proves every reason why I love with this place with all my heart. There is not other place on the face of the earth that could deal with such a loss the way we have. I really hope that someday before I graduate those of you that I'm writing to many miles away, can visit this campus and see what it's like without the world watching. Without the blood. Without the crime scene tape. And without the sadness".

He shared also the poem by English professor of V-Tech, Nikki Giovanni, dedicated to the victims, students and faculty staffs, and the world. Here it was:

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 we are sad enough to know that 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 the rogue army,
neither does the baby elephant watching his community being 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 heart 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 imaginations and the possibilities.
We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our
sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

Ps. As declared by VA’s governor, this Friday is a mourning day for the victims. Please participate by wearing your maroon and orange! I would do it, too, on our mourning mass this Sunday.
Posted at 6:20 PM
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Spring Has Finally Sprung

14 April, 2007

After a frigid winter, the signs of springtime rebirth are starting to be seen. Usually you can tell when spring has arrived here by the fragrance of the spring rain. You may already be seeing some other signs such as birds returning, trees beginning to bud, spring flowers (tulips, daffodils, etc) blooming, new plants popping through the ground. Or you may have noticed a few extra minutes of daylight. Yes, Spring is in the air, so as my new look here.
Posted at 3:06 PM
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Snowy Easter

07 April, 2007

I woke up this morning seeing the pretty unusual scene on Easter weekend. It was beginning to look a lot not like Easter. Yeah, light snow showers fell in our area early this morning. Would any songwriter begin to think something creative to be writing a song of "White Easter"? (Of course all of you are familiar with the song "White Christmas", the most popular pop song of all time).

About this unexplained-weird-weather, I would say that I witness again another God's great work of art that no one in this world is able to explain with their dumb theory how God's hands have made such awesome wonder!! God is truly the great creator.

Happy a joyful Easter, y'all!!

Posted at 12:09 PM
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