"My baby didn't make it"

Contrary to the title of my blog, sometimes Life just doesnt mean anything...take a look at this link about the V-Tech victims...

By the relatives...
"For us it was like an electric shock"
"So we drove down here praying for the best and just preparing ourselves for the worst and that's what we got, we got the worst"
Her father Grafton said: "My baby didn't make it."
"We tried everything to completely finance his studies in the United States," he said. "We only wanted him to succeed in his studies, but... he met a tragic fate."
"He was the simplest and nicest guy I ever knew. We would be studying for our exams and he would go buy a cake and make tea for us"

About the victims
Jamie Bishop: On his own website, Jamie said he had lived in Germany for four years and "spent most of his time learning the language, teaching English, drinking large quantities of wheat beer, and wooing a certain Fraulein". That "Fraulein" was his wife Stephanie Hofer, who also teaches at Virginia Tech.

Prof.Librescu: Internationally renowned for his research work, he has been hailed a hero for blocking a doorway to protect his students. His son Joe said he had received e-mails from several students who said he had saved their lives.

Prof.Granata:He was regarded as one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the US for his work on cerebral palsy. With so many research projects and graduate students, he still found time to spend with his family, and he coached his children in many sports and extracurricular activities

Jocelyne Nowak: In the 1990s, she lived in Truro, Nova Scotia, and was instrumental in creating the town's first French-speaking school.

Juan Ortiz: "He was an extraordinary son, what any father would have wanted"

Daniel O'Neil: Daniel O'Neil, 22, of Rhode Island, was a graduate student in engineering who also played guitar and wrote his own songs, which he posted on a website, www.residenthippy.com. "He was pretty much destined to be extremely successful".

Austin Cloyd: Austin Cloyd, from Blacksburg, Virginia, was a first year in international studies and French, and wanted to be a US ambassador. Her former pastor, Rev Terry Harter, said Austin was a "very delightful, intelligent, warm young lady" and an athlete who played basketball and volleyball in high school.

Waleed Mohammed Shaalan: He is said to have called home a day before the shooting to say he was returning to Egypt next month to take his wife and one-year-old son to the US. He is said to have been shot while trying to save another student.

At such times, one does not know what to feel...guilty relief at not knowing any of them personally, anger at American gun control laxity, utter sadness at lives snuffed out, empathy for an Indian mother....what does one feel? People who walked this earth a week ago like you and me, no longer do...so many precious lives, hopes, dreams wiped out in an instant of madness...Rest In Peace, y'all folks. And amidst sadness, hope, howoever frail, shall prevail.


PS - Thanks Iday for helping me stumble over the links...