As news of the shootings at Virginia Tech started to filter across the airwaves, I was, like many students on campus, returning from a quick lunch on Green Street. However, unlike the majority of my peers, my feelings regarding the incident quickly moved beyond astonishment and empathy. My first thought was of my sister, a senior at Virginia Tech.

Luckily, due to her student teaching obligations, she was nowhere near campus, although she was planning to visit that afternoon. After hanging up with her, my mind flashed back to the multiple times I had walked through the Drill Field, past Norris Hall on late trips to class after work just this past year.

As you may have inferred by now, I am a Hokie transplant here in Champaign. Hailing from Roanoke, Virginia, I grew up only thirty minutes away from the Tech campus.

Besides serving as the institution from which I earned a master’s degree, Virginia Tech holds a spot dear to my heart that extends well beyond the scope of academics.

Tech was the place where my friends and I snuck out for our first real college party back in high school. Our Saturdays were spent watching Hokie football, and until I came to Illinois, I loathed orange and blue because they were the colors of those despised Cavaliers from Virginia.

And yes, for those of you wondering, I was the quiet guy in Legends last month that wasn’t too broken up when Tech made that improbable comeback.

However, most recently, I found joy in Virginia Tech through the eyes of others. As a high school government teacher in Roanoke the past four years, I shared in the joy of scores of seniors that finally decided on Tech as their college of choice, choosing to earn a quality education with all the comforts of being close to home.

I maintain relationships with many of my former students, several of which are freshmen at Tech this year. Needless to say, my next stop after calling my sister was to head to the Education computer lab to send e-mails to those students.

As I write this on the night of the shootings, all but one has written back. As I start to think about heading to bed, my thoughts center on that one unanswered e-mail. I know that the worst case scenario is improbable, yet over thirty bright and talented individuals just like her have similar unattended e-mails tonight.

And therein lies the true lesson from the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The victims could be anyone; moreover, incidents of senseless violence could erupt anywhere. As you empathize with members of this campus hundreds of miles away, remember that it just as easily could have been Lincoln Hall or the Union.

We are all Hokies tonight. And as we all go about our normal college lives with the pressures of finals week looming ahead, take a minute to reflect on how incredibly lucky we all are to be in this center of higher education.

Of course, from any tragedy spring tales of heroism and courage. Despite media reports of poor campus communication at Tech on Monday morning, police braved a hailstorm of bullets to remove the wounded and pursue the perpetrator. I have read reports of a custodian that was shot while attending to a wounded student instead of fleeing to save himself. Inevitably, more heart wrenching tales will come forth in the next few days, and they will all serve to remind us that the perverse actions of a few cannot outweigh the humanity of the majority.

I would like to end with a quotation from The West Wing, a television program that I often showed in my government courses and was a student favorite.

After an eerily similar scenario regarding a fictitious pipe bombing at a university swim meet, President Bartlett proclaims that “the streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight.”

Policy arguments and placing of blame can wait; tonight let’s just send our thoughts to the families of those walking that heavenly road tonight. I will ponder that sentiment as I lay down to sleep, hoping to awaken to find a certain e-mail in the morning.