Not a Normal Day at School

     Every one knew about the Virginia Tech Massacre as it was shown all over the news. To the students at Virginia Tech they heard the news right when it occurred but for outsiders like us, we did not hear it until hours after. I was 18 and finishing my last year in high school when I heard about the shooting on television. I didn't think it was that serious at first because I'm used to hearing people getting shot all the time on the news. However, my opinion changed when I heard the shoot out was in a school. It was an Asian male student who started the wild shooting upon innocent students and teachers. Was it because he was Asian that made me care more about the incident or the fact that students my age were killed? Or was it both because I’m an Asian American student.

     Mondays are usually the quiet days because the beginning of the school week just started. I did not hear about the shooting until I got home from school and turned on the television. Usually when I watch something visual, it affects me more than reading it in the newspaper. I remember the news showing Virginia Tech and the different locations where students were shot. Students and adults were being carried out, everyone were frantically running around, other people were on standby, and some were standing nearby watching the whole scene happen in front of them. No one knew what was happening inside and if other students and teachers were shot. How horrifying to not know what is happening. Are the students safe from harm? Where is Seung-Hui Cho now? These questions were probably in the minds of every person on site.

     I remember feeling very emotional after watching the tragic news. Even now when I look back at the pictures it made me tear a little. I can’t imagine how horrifying it would be if I was actually there. How devastating to hear that my friend or relative was killed in a shoot out. I would forever feel heartbroken to hear that it was my friend who did the shooting. What if was all I can think of. The pictures and videos made everything seem more realistic. That this event actually happened and people’s lives would be changed. People all over America would feel remorse for this tragic event.

      Even when I look back now I can feel the pain that the students felt at that time. By reading the news and watching the videos, I felt scared myself. I was going to graduate high school in two months, what if this happened in my own college? How would I be able to react to it? These questions would never be rid of for it will not be the same if it actually happened. Everyone including myself will be scared to think of anything.

     I know how it is like to lose a close friend and family. The cause may be different but the loss is the same. The feeling of losing someone is incomparable to anything else. Regarding this event, I give my condolences to all the friends and family that has lost a close one in the Virgina Tech Massacre.