Today started as a busier-than-normal day for me. I tried to leave my house early, because I needed to stop by the State Highway Patrol office in Morehead City to pick up a report about a potentially newsworthy car accident. When I got to my office and started making beat calls to all the law enforcement agencies in the area, it quickly became clear that the past few days had seen a small surge in criminal activity-- and it was going to take me a while to gather all the information about some of the newsworthy criminal activities.
I also had to check the area for storm-related damage after this weekend's nor'easter, as well as get an update on the latest about the Carteret Co. wildfire that started Friday afternoon.
Things really got crazy when I had to drop everything I was working on right around noon and turn a story on the state auditor's report in to the Gallants Channel land transfer and the whole Tall Ships hullabaloo.
At some point in the middle of all that, I made a mental note that I needed to come home and
update my blog tonight. At that point in time, though, I had planned on ranting about how Don Imus got shortchanged ... or how I had originally believed every word Mike Nifong said, but that I've now joined the chorus calling for his head.
That was all before someone turned on a valve, and emails started pouring in to my inbox. See, WNCT is owned by Media General, a company which owns about 25 TV stations throughout the US. There's a "Breaking News Alert" that is sent out to every employee of every station when something particularly newsworthy happens.
The function isn't utilized all that often. Today, it was used more than I've ever seen.
The first Breaking News Alert hit my inbox at 12:15 p.m., and it had a simple Subject -- "20 Dead." I opened the email and saw, for the first time, that someone had gone on a rampage on the Virginia Tech campus.
Throughout the day, 64 more Breaking News Alert emails trickled in as more facts became available. Sadly, the death toll kept climbing. No doubt more emails will continue to come -- I can only pray that the death toll doesn't rise any higher.
The rest of the afternoon was a mix of sadness, stress and disbelief. I'm less than a year removed from college, and I just am having a hard time grasping that someone could destroy the lives of so many at a place that is supposed to be so safe.
When you're in college, you're so insulated. You're so care-free. And you're supposed to be living it up. I can remember days in Chapel Hill when I felt on top of the world. I was living in a bubble, and it felt like the world ended at the Orange County line -- like all that existed was held within the stone walls of our campus. To have that tranquility shattered is gut-wrenching and sobering.
It happened twice my senior year -- first when two students fell from a third-story window. One died, another was seriously injured. Days later, Muhammad Taheri-Azar drove a Jeep through the heart of our campus and injured nine people. He was intent on killing many more, but thankfully everyone survived and made a full recovery.
That tranquility was again shattered in Chapel Hill recently, with the death of Jason Ray. His death shook that campus to the core. I can only imagine what students, staff and family in Blacksburg must be feeling right now -- 32 people, not including the gunman, are now dead. It's just hard for me to wrap my mind around that number -- 32 people who started their day dodging snow flakes on their walk across a beautiful campus to class. That's 32 futures that were cut short for no reason. That's 32 kids, killed in their prime. That's 32 sons, daughters, sisters, brothers murdered -- and for what?
It just doesn't make sense to me -- and to be honest, I'm still kind of numb right now. These shootings could have just as easily happened on Carolina's campus -- and I could have lost dozens of vibrant, fun-loving friends in their primes. That's a scary, scary thought.
It's going to take a long time for us to figure out exactly what happened at Va. Tech -- and we may never know why. But it only takes a couple of minutes to stop and pray for the students, faculty and staff there. That's something we should all do.
8 comments:
Very nice article; Thank you for your observations.
you should be a writer. i hope you are saving everything you say and do in a file of some sort. it could be a great book some day and you are certainly compassionate. unfortunately, compassion is found in such sad circumstances, but you have a very humble way of expressing your feelings and honoring the victims. kudos.
I along with several other adult friends have been so very impressed by your reporting as well as your writing. You sound as if you're sitting beside an uncle at a family reunion and expressing what has changed your life over the past few years and why. The interjection of your faith has captured the hearts of many readers and won viewers for your station. Keep up the good work, Philip, you're an asset to mankind.
Where are you? It's July 17th and you've left us high and dry!
your blog would suck 50% less if you kept writing
phil. for get this anonymous nonsense, what happened to you? did you join the witness protection program? keep blogging.
signed,
tool jr.
Your an amazing writer!!!!
:]
Isn't the main point of a blog to keep up with it?
Ponder on that question...
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