Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Home sick

I am home sick today...sore throat, headache, yada yada yada. I may actually get a lot of work done in the quiet...we'll see.

First, in regards to GreenLineBoy's tattoo question...the stories behind all five of my tattoos are here.

Munchkin made her first ever solo-subway ride yesterday, which she was quite proud of. She was at her friend's house in Brookline and took the T home. They put her on the train at Longwood and I met her at Park Street...she felt like quite the big kid;-) That is a pretty short ride (five stops I think? six?) but I still get nervous at the idea of her being alone on the T. At 5:00 on a Monday holiday, the Green Line from Brookline to downtown is probably as safe as any public transportation you will ever find, but still... I told her to sit where the driver could see her;-)

This Virginia Tech thing makes me sick to my stomach, and I am sure I am not the only one. It happened to be Blacksburg, VA, but it could have been State College, PA, or College Park, MD, or College Station, TX or Big State U, Anywhere. I have never been in Virginia, and I don't know anyone who ever went to Virginia Tech, but my guess is that everyone in the whole state knows someone who is there, or has kids there, or went there, or all of the above. Major state schools like that become a central part of the culture of a state, and everyone feels some connection to the school, and to the kids at the school.

So something like this hits everyone on some personal level. This is a place where people have gone to learn, to make friends, to grow up, to find opportunities and to start new lives. And now all of those memories, and all of that history is forever changed in a dramatic and irreversible way. It is a tragedy for the 30+ families involved, and for all the students at the school, and all of the loved ones of the victims, and for everyone with a tie to the school.

I am going to hold off on a gun rant for a couple days, but you can be assured that it is coming. For now, though, I feel sick for everyone involved and my heart goes out to all of the people affected.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's absolutely tragic.

Anonymous said...

It's jsut such a tragedy and I know we're all effected in some way

Ally said...

I feel like we need a national day of mourning, but I guess we'll never quite get our heads around it.

GreenLineBoy said...

There's never an appropriate response to a tragedy like that. You can't respond when you just don't understand.

ella said...

For once there is actually something news worthy to have continual coverage on. But I don't know if it is necessary to keep showing the reel of the dead bodies being carried out.

Aaron said...

Tragic indeed.

I can't wait for a gun rant!

megabrooke said...

very tragic. i didnt hear about it until this morning as i was in flight all day yesterday. it's awful.

i like your tattoo explanations! i have one on my foot too- it hurt the most.

Whine Girl said...

I have no tats.

I'm shaking my head in disgust at some of the media's interviews with some college kids from VTech... asking them things like "what were your emotions like when you found out what happened?" and "have you been able to come to grips with what happened here on campus?"... asking these just a little over 24 hours after it happened.....

what were your emotions??

what do you think????

and come to grips with this?

NO ONE has come to grips with what happened...

sometimes these questions make me want to smack my tv screen