Virginia Tech

You know what I would like to see for once in the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech? Biographies of the victims instead of the perpetrator.

The perpetrator of this atrocity is not worthy of any measure of fame. Suicide was too good for him, although it suited his character because it is a coward's exit. He committed suicide because he couldn't face what he had done. It's best if his body is thrown into some unmarked hole. He was a cancer and should be discarded, not celebrated. Not even for his infamy.

You know who I prefer to know more about? I want to know about Ryan Clark, one of the shooting victims who had a triple major. He sounded like a real achiever and his loss was a loss for us all.

I'd like to know about Ross Abdallah Alameddine, the VA Tech student from Saugus, Massachusetts. I'd like to read more about Christopher Bishop, the German instructor who was the son of author Michael Bishop. I assume they had people in their lives who loved them both very much. I can't even imagine how much they are hurting right now.

I'd like to know about the journey of Daniel Pérez Cueva, the student from Peru who studied International Relations. Did he experience culture shock moving from South America to Virginia? Did he ever live here before? How did he learn English? How did he like the states?

And yes, of course, I'd like to know more about Liviu Librescu, the Holocaust survivor and professor who held the door so his students could escape before he was shot. That one almost brought tears to my eyes. What a horrible fate for someone who had traveled so far. But what a remarkable man.

I'd like it if, for once, these people who led interesting, well-rounded lives were given a measure of recognition instead of having the spotlight shine on some guy whose only accomplishment was buying a gun and shooting down innocent civilians like a depraved thug. I want to hear about the people who rose up and created things and not about the person who senselessly tore them down.

Update: This is exactly what I was looking for - BBC article on the victims.

Update 2: The New York Times outdid themselves with this excellent multimedia presentation. Take a moment to check it out.

Comments

[Sarah]

Here via Shane -- There's also a similar article at the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17cnd-victims.html

[iamhoff]

Also here via Shane, and amen. Could not have said it better.

[Annie]

Thank you!
No better way to put it.

[Karina]

Very well said. (also here via Shane).

[laurie]

Christopher "Jamie" Bishop was someone whom I was acquainted with in college. He was a graduate student and TA when I was an undergrad, and I met him through a mutual friend. He was a very nice, soft-spoken guy. I didn't have a great deal of contact with him, but all the times I saw him, he was friendly and happy. Eventually we had more friends in common, and I know that he was just a really good person. I didn't know that he'd gone on to become a professor, but it seems right in line with the little bit that I knew about him.

It's just strange. I hadn't thought of him in so long, and it's a strange kind of nostalgia and it's strange to realize that our paths will never cross again. I'll never run into him at some event back on our alma mater's campus. I'll never see him at some mutual friend's party.

It all strikes me as so strange to find myself touched personally by these horrible events. No one is ever completely immune. My thoughts are with his family and his friends.

[Falstaff]

Well said. I'm tired of hearing about the murderer already, he deserves to be forgotten. It is his victims who must be remembered and their lives honored.

[Cindy]

I had to stop watching the news and listening to the radio. It was all about gun control, who's blaming who, etc. My first thought was the police did exactly what they should have with the first incident. No one could have known the guy was coming back to shoot up the whole school. You can't control that as much as you want to or think that someone else can. After hearing the live audio feed of the shots fired I felt sick to my stomach and couldn't handle anymore. It pisses me off to see pics of the gunman posted everywhere. (here via Shane)

[Eve]

Well said.

Treating murderers like celebrities is just so twisted and wrong.

Reading about men like Liviu Librescu gives me a little hope in a time like this.

[Mozza]

Hi Dave, I understand and share your rage about the killer. I decided to post my own thoughts about it, in part as a response to your own post.

[sandra]

Thanks for the links. I absolutely agree -- honoring the people whose lives he took is a lot more important than hearing about the shooter's "warning" writing (and by the way, seriously -- can you imagine if someone met Stephen King or Quentin Tarantino in their early 20s? I don't blame people for not running for cover right away when they read what he wrote).

[Chris mankey]

"Suicide was too good for him, although it suited his character because it is a coward's exit. He committed suicide because he couldn't face what he had done. It's best if his body is thrown into some unmarked hole. He was a cancer and should be discarded, not celebrated. Not even for his infamy."

You should tell that to his family. If you have the balls!