Thirty-Three... For Now

How suiting that it should be raining on this inauspicious day.

Today has been a ride; a loop-dee-loop of decent proportions. I have a routine, I get up at 8, I get my coffee and muffin, I go to class. When I get back I read the paper and wait for my next class. Today my routine was off and so it seems the world's was too.

I woke up late, 9:00. Elsewhere in the world, 33 people were already dead.

11:15 I was in Ian's Domain reading the newspaper, doing the sudoku, and laughing at the comics. Right before I left for class my resident motioned me over to the TV. It literally felt as though someone had punched me in the stomach. I was mortified, furious, and horribly downtrodden all at the same time. Tears welled in my eyes; I forced them back. Turning my back on that horrible story, I had to continue as if nothing had happened, I had to go to class.

I wrote a poem in that class. It's not very good, rather cheesy, but it was something to help me cope. I don't know why I've taken this so hard, I don't know anyone there. I just cannot believe such violence exists. That statement in itself seems to silly, I need think no further than to our recent past and see the towers fall. That incident seemed so distant. That act seemed so surreal. This act is so terribly close to home, I can't help but feel for those lives lost.

32
Thirty-two souls,
I'll never know,
Their lives are never more.

Wielding guns,
They couldn't run,
He had chained the doors.

From room to room,
He walked on through,
Then lined them on a wall.

One by one,
He cut them down,
It's thirty-two in all.

Virginia Tech,
They have been left,
A scar forever showing.

The U.S. cries,
For those who died,
And leaves so little hoping.

The number's changed,
It's such a shame,
That now it's thirty-three.

How many more,
Will have to go,
Before we reach some Peace?
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A little cliche at the end but it helps the feelings. I've been trying to put out only good things today too... which is hard because I feel so rotten. But today I've picked a flower for a stranger, and moved a large tree branch off the ADA access ramp. It was huge and I needed two other guys to help me move it. I'm all scraped up but it was worth it. Hopefully I can find other ways to help the people around me.

Now I need to study because I have a physics exam. And many RA things to do!

Z