Posted on 04/17/2007 5:52:13 PM PDT by subbob
“We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when 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 not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant in the 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 Hokier Nation embraces our own 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, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility 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 are Virginia Tech. "
To me they are both pieces of trash.
I’d bet the woman dean of students who served as Mistress of Ceremonies today invited her. I noticed the Muslim Imam quoted several verses of the Koran while I heard none mentioned by the Lutheran pastor. In fact, unless I missed it, the only Biblical scripture mentioned was by Mr. Bush. I noticed also there were no Roman Catholic clergy present. Are we to presume there are no Roman Catholics in the general student population?
As for Ms. Giovanni, I fully expected her to exclaim “A luta continua”, e.g., “the struggle continues”.
We all mourn with the good folks at Tech but they can leave the PC BS out.
I remember this woman well from my days in Cincinnati. She compared pro-lifers to 60’s southern white racists.
No question, and it was totally her fault. She led the students down the wrong path, resulting in the Hokie cheer. Total lack of respect for the families.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. All art is subjective. Her enthusiasm, delivery, and feeling transcended the words. The students had just experienced a major trauma 24 hours before. They needed to leave that auditorium believing in the future and not dwell on the past. Stop being a victim and wallowing in self-pity. Accept the past and go on. That was the message and the audience obviously understood it.
Who cares what you think? Not me.
Thanks for the info.
never heard of this nut before yesterday
I wouldn't be able to even understand what the kids are feeling. I guess I was looking at it as a funeral and not a convocation.
LOL...oh for those simplier days.
Now Father Giovanni made sense to me! But then again I’m not big into poetry or poets for that matter.
kabar....it was barely 24 hours since their friends, teachers, family were MURDERED...
At that point there is no wallowing and self-pity..there is grief, fear, doubt and denial.
Her speech and that Hokie cheer seemed to almost attempt to pretend the deaths never happened.
Sure..maybe her poem will help some...but “believing in the future and not dwell in the past”...that is unfair, these people deserve the time to take this in...and grieve.
My goodness...this microwave society....massacre one day...cheering for the future the next???
That isn’t right...
Please tell me that didn't happen.
I generally like Giovanni’s writing, but I think it was a mistake to put elephants in that list. Every other item in the list is a human being, like the victims at VT. Parents and classmates do not want to hear loved ones compared to circus animals.
And I would argue that the killing to close extinction of elephants for ivory, while arguably not necessary and a waste, is not senseless—it is killing an animal for profit just like any other animal used by human beings for food or material. The killing at VT, that was senseless.
It’s a small thing, and the rest is an acceptable expression of grief and confusion. Maybe Giovanni was steeped in elephant and ivory research and that is what was on her mind, but it sticks out like a sore thumb in a list of human victims.
Utter............., oh, whatever.
I know it’s not her best, but I’m cutting her a bit of slack because she dashed this off in less than a day and it still had enough of an emotional resonance that the student body reacted very positively to it.
I think it was just a time to get together for the first time and start to deal with everything as a community.
“Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory...”
What in the Wide Wide World of Sports???
How can one not smile? : )
That's your interpretation. I don't agree with it. I like AppyPappy's response in post #51: "Nikki is irreverant, naughty and a trouble maker. In short, a Hokie. I think she is a lefty, civil rights wannabe. But she is Hokie through and through."
Sure..maybe her poem will help some...but “believing in the future and not dwell in the past”...that is unfair, these people deserve the time to take this in...and grieve.
They have been grieving. Life is for the living. After 9/11, we needed the same kind of encouragement and President Bush provided it. So did FDR the day after Pearl Harbor. Grieve but move forward.
My goodness...this microwave society....massacre one day...cheering for the future the next???That isn’t right...
That's your opinion. The audience obviously had a different one judging by their response. We are a resilient, tough people. The people who settled this country were not made of sugar candy. The ones fighting for our freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan are made of the same [and right] stuff.
LOL. That’s from her official bio. Are you suggesting that the new species is named “Ding?”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.