Tuesday, April 17, 2007, 6:03 a.m., Oral Roberts University Campus~

Dear Journal~

Anh Kim Van Sandusky here. Ever since hearing about the terrible shootings at Virginia Tech, where 33 people (including the shooter) were killled, my heart has been weeping. My heart goes out to those most affected by the tragedy; but in a way, we all were affected.

Seeing I am in college now myself, this hit especally hard because it could have happened anywhere; it could have happened here. All because some nut broke up with his girlfriend he decided to take revenge by shooting innocent people?? What is going on here?? Why was this allowed to happen? What was the real motive behind this killer's mind? What was the real reasonings behind the tragedy? Why wasn't anything done to stop it? Why??

Needless to say, classes have been canceled so we can mourn for the victims at Virginia Tech. The flags are at half staff, and everyone is walking around in a daze. This is all people are talking about: the massacre at Virgina Tech yesterday, April 16, 2007, which happened early in the morning just as we were rising to start our day.

Now the nation mourns; now the world mourns. We are yet again somehow reminded of the horrors of Columbine in Colorado Springs, Colorado, or 9/11/01, where our nation was savagely attacked by foreign terrorists who had hatred in their eyes (and hearts), who wanted nothing more than to brng us to our knees.

We are reminded onec again just how important life really is, how imporatant it is for us to return to Godly ways, to pray, to meditate, to rely on Him during the darkest days. We want to get back to the way things were (this isn't going to happen anytime soon; in the last days beore Christ's Return there are going to be wars and rumors of wars, and the world is going to descend into chaos, whch it already appears to be doing); we want answers to why things like the shootings (or September 11, 2001) had to happen.

The staff at Oral Roberts, where I attend school, have implemented grief counslors for those who were affected by this tragedy, which I think is a good thing, really. They also told us to pray for the victims and our nation as a whole. This was the worst school shooting in U.S. history, and we are left stunned, seeking answers, demanding WHY, why this happened in a place that was supposed to have been safe.

Now we feel vulnerable, and all of a sudden we don't trust our fellow man. We don't know what they are capable of, what they are thinking, what is going on in their minds. Now we will look at someone and wonder if they are capable of doing something like the shooter did, even if it is your own family member or friends you thought you knew. It is scary, and it has left many people thinking.

This morning we are having prayer services for the victims in Virginia, and then our professors will speak about what has happened. We all have to go to this. I am not looking forward to hearing about it again, but this is all that is on the news; it is what everyone's talking about, and now we must grieve along with the victims' families and our nation.

God help us!

~Anh Kim Van. :( >tears!<

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Author's note:

God be with those who were affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech: the victims' families, friends, teachers, co-woekers. God be with our nation as we mourn yet again more loss of life at the hands of a madman, and God be with our leaders who will now have to think of ways to make our nation safer, to prevent future tragedies like this from happening again.

~Love, your Texas friend, Karen Lynn The Texas Tornado. :( >tears!<