April 27, 2007

Despite schools’ rivalry, ‘we all hurt just as badly now’ and ‘are united in grief’

St. Christopher parishioner Christine Prince of Indianapolis, a registered nurse who works at St. Vincent Hospital and a native of Virginia, wrote a poem titled “United in Grief” in memory of the victims who died during the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16. (Read the poem here)

Several of her siblings earned degrees at Virginia Tech, and she is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

“The tragedy really hit home when I called my sister and found out that she still has friends there,” Prince wrote in an e-mail. “We are rivals on the athletic field and, even though we have all graduated, we still debate the merits of our academic programs and the quality of our degrees. Among the six of us, we have four degrees from Tech, and four degrees and one certificate from [the University of Virginia] so the academic score is almost even.”

Virginia Tech’s school colors are maroon and orange and the University of Virginia colors are blue and orange, she explained. “But we all bleed red, we cry blue and we all hurt just as badly right now.”

Prince said she cried as she watched television news coverage of the tragedy.

“I am reminded of that most basic of beliefs, that we are all brothers and sisters, and that life is sacred,” she wrote. “It doesn’t matter if we wear orange and maroon or blue and orange … or whose university is better than the other or whose team won the game. We are family, we are Virginians, we are overwhelmed and brokenhearted, and we are shocked and dismayed, but most of all, we are united in grief.” †

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