When I first started writing this entry I was going to focus on students in Iraq, who are coping with violence while trying to get an education. I was going to suggest that American students would probably never truly be able to comprehend the idea of living and learning in an environment that is bombarded with everyday violence right outside their classroom window. Which was in comparison to Iraqi students who don’t even flinch when a bomb goes off not very far from their school. But after the horrible killings that took place at Virginia Tech this week, the idea of violence in any environment that is normally considered a safe haven still seems surreal and unimaginable.

Even after Columbine there remains a lingering sensation of “Wha? This happened where?” Everyday on the nightly news reporters give the body count of how many Americans and Iraqis died overseas, which has almost become painfully numbing to the point where you expect to hear “Today in Iraq so many of these people died, and more of these people are injured”. It isn’t something anyone should get used to hearing but since it is so far away there is an obvious disconnect. Seeing the broadcasted statistical breakdown of the body count is one thing, having to live in the same country as it, is something totally different.

-Eming Piansay