Day of Remembrance:

It was one year ago today that 33 people, including the shooter, lost their lives at the Virginia Tech campus on April 16th, 2007. Anyone who has perused this blog has read my other post about it from last year. The fact is, I'd completely forgotten it was today until I saw a video about it on espn.com. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

You see the bumper stickers and the slogans... we will never forget... always remember... you are not forgotten. But is that really true? A quick nod and thought about the event and life goes on. And I think that's a good thing. We can't constantly dwell on these things... parents die... friends pass on... tragedies happen. But if we forever dwell in our sadness then Evil wins.

Instead I think what we really mean by "Never Forget" is something along the lines of... "Let's do something to prevent this from happening again." Now in some cases this is taken into extremes, like [whether you agree with me or not is not the issue] refusing to let an American ally like Dubai take control of some of our ports... or denying civil liberties and the simple rights of humanity in the name of counter-terrorism.

But I digress. In the case of Virginia Tech, it's simple. What could have been done? Well, how about better recognition of emotionally and mentally ill students both at the college and grammar schools levels? More care from the parents? Better notification systems of disasters such as phone lists, texts and e-mails to all students? Shall we condemn ill students with expulsion at any sign of trouble?

No. But enough... Remember. I guess why we really say that is because anything else comes to an arguement. We can't get along and agree about what was done wrong or what needs to be done to prevent it... but we can simply hold hands and Remember.