When we wake up we don't know where the day will take us. Sure, we have some general idea, but, because of the millions of variables interjected into our lives, we cannot predict precisely what will occur. Therefore, it's highly unlikely that on April 16, 2008 VA Tech Professor Liviu Librescu thought he would become a hero, but that's exactly what he became.
In a series of e-mail sent to his wife, Librescu's students told of how he sacrificed his life to hold off madman Cho Seung-Hui at the front door of his classroom so they could escape out of the window:
""He was always, always helping," a tearful Marlena Librescu, 71, said yesterday after a brief funeral service in a Brooklyn chapel. "I can't be surprised because that's who he was.""
Look at that in opposition to what people thought of Seung-Hui:
"I knew when it happened that that's probably who it was. I would have been shocked if it wasn't," Giovanni told CNN, referring to Cho Seung Hui, a 23-year-old senior English major.
In the end the situations surprise us, but it is the innate character of a person that will always shine through. We're spending alot of time trying to understand who Seung-Hui was and what his motivations were, and that is right; but it is just as right that we should also spend just as much time, if not more, trying to understand what made Prof. Librescu do what he did, because unlike the shooter, this hero's actions should be emulated. The ability to look down the barrel of a gun and be unfazed in the midst of certain death seems more awesome than anything that Cho could accomplish with his twin glocks, and insanity. What filled Librescu's heart in that moment is the very essence of what is best in human nature, and that, simply put, is love--a love of his students and a love of life. He is an inspiration for us all.
No comments:
Post a Comment