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When I think about April 16, 2007, my heart still quickens and I still feel a touch of the same sick panic that rose in my throat as the death toll was released at Virginia Tech.

At this point, time has passed since thirty-two people were killed at my college, Virginia Tech. Even though time has passed, it's still hard for me to believe that something that terrible happened at a place that I feel safe, a place I love. I've had some time to mourn and reflect on what happened April 16, 2007, but when the shootings first happened the news gripped me, overwhelmed me and paralyzed me.

As the victims were mourned, the idea that one human can attack and wound the lives of other humans was perhaps the hardest thing to internalize. It is difficult to see the effects of hate so clearly, and the longer the tragedy sunk in the deeper its impact was felt. The parents of the victims, the family of the shooter, the roommates, the professors, the mental health institutions. Suddenly, mourning was misplaced by blame as the Virginia Tech community struggled to understand what happened.

When the shootings happened at Virginia Tech, it wounded the Virginia Tech community and it was a wound felt all over the nation. This was not a singular tragedy, it touched individuals all over Blacksburg and the concentric circles reached throughout the United States and beyond.

The thirty-two innocent people who died at Virginia Tech were intelligent, bright, innocent men and women. What happened at Virginia Tech was a human tragedy. It was a violent act that exposed a holes in mental health care and inspired reform in college safety notification standards.

The world joined the Hokies as they made sense of what happened at their school. What was once known as a big school in a small town is now knows as the site of the worst shootings in United States history.

The spirit of Virginia Tech, though, is as strong as it ever was. The strength, love and unity of the Hokie family was strong before the shootings, and it is even stronger now. Virginia Tech will never be defined by the tragedy that happened on its campus.

Learn more about this author, A. South.
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