There must be a fine line to how you expand this feeling beyond those effected.
I was moved by the President who spoke of how OUR hearts go out to those who lost friends and loved ones, but somewhat repulsed by people who said “the nation suffered a tragedy”.
This wasn’t a national tragedy. It wasn’t my loss. Sure, I was sad, and hurt, and maybe angry, but the event belongs to those who lived through it or died from it. Sometimes I think we publicise stuff like this so much that we take away from the true victims their “victimhood”.
I felt that way with the Rutgers team. By the time they had their press conference to discuss how mean words said about them effected them, a lot of people were saying things like “shut up already”, or “what victims”, because Sharpton and Jackson had already “stolen” their victimhood for all black people, and Imus was even making himself out to be the victim.
Maybe if you are suffering a loss like this, it helps to know other people “feel your pain”, but frankly every time I’ve been around people who had a loss, the last thing they seemed to want to hear was how others “understood”, or “felt”, their loss.
Well, you are wrong. It may not be a national tragedy, but it is definatly a tradegy for the Commonwealth of Virginia. VT is a huge school, and it is hard not to know somebody who went to VT or goes to VT. I graduated in 2000 and everytime I see those pictures of campus it just tears me up. All I can think about is how one legally armed student or proffessor could have saved many lives. Virginia Tech is a great school but after the incident in August and now this I think people will be very hesitant to go there or go back.