Shooting at Virginia Tech

Is it normal to feel so supremely devastated by something you are not (seemingly) related to? Well, I am. And I have been staring at the CNN website all day since I came to my office.

I am shocked and depressed by what has happened. Though I know no one among the ones who have lost their lives, I don't know - I am just unable to work today. I feel sick to the stomach reflecting on what has happened.
Yesterday I was fine and so were many around me. So were the many students who were talking to reporters all day yesterday. Today there is a heavy gloom all across my campus and this silence is making the hum of air conditioning uncomfortably loud.

I guess it takes a while till reality and gravity of shock sink in.

I pray for all the lives lost - may their souls rest in peace.

"We are Virginia Tech" (link):
A rather moving speech given by Nikki Giovanni, English poet and Professor at VTech (3 min, Courtesy: CNN)

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech ...

-- Nikki Giovanni
University Distinguished Professor, poet, activist