I was asked to be interviewed for the on the shootings. They are working to develop a very broad oral history archive that will be both stored at Tech and used for a variety of other purposes. I always try to be as helpful to Tech as I can be, so I willingly agreed.
Just being asked about those horrible days was much more upsetting than I thought it would be. I am not the most emotional guy around — But I am still at the point that I really don’t know what will happen when people ask me to recount the shootings.
Don’t get me wrong here, I am fine with that. I learned that there is no point in berating myself for not having some particular response, just be honest with where I am and move through it. But it brought me right back into those days.
Rita Mae Brown said this…
I still miss those I loved who are no longer with me but I find I am grateful for having loved them. The gratitude has finally conquered the loss.
For me it is a bit different, but I love her words. For me the sadness isn’t bound up in the personal loss. Even though three of the victims had attended our church, I didn’t know them personally. My sadness is often bound up in the pain their deaths’ brought so many others. My sadness is bound up in how a world that can often look so beautiful can at the same time be so broken, so ugly.
But one day, just as gratitude finally conquers loss, one day, the beauty of God will ultimately remove the ugliness.
And then no one else will have to be interviewed and recount another horrible thing.
And I think that will be great.
