Oh, Virginia

When I was growing up in a beautiful Midwestern college town, people would occasionally remark on the campus bell tower. It was the tallest building in town for a long time, though I'm sure there are taller ones now.

People would, from time to time, look at the tower, and mention Texas in a sad voice. And so I learned of a sniper who, before I was born, took so many lives in another college town very far away. It was the sort of horrific story that is only told in soft tones and trails away in a sad silence.

It was a story we never wanted repeated, never wanted surpassed in sheer awful madness. And now, it seems, it has been. In another beautiful college town, far away, the pain spills out across the country.

My prayers are all I can offer.