Sad way to gain perspective

While I was driving to gather mugs for Scott Ferrell's lacrosse story in today's Times, I called my brother who is in school at the University of Rochester studying for his second Master's degree.

We talked about Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech, which held a little different meaning for him. See, my brother is a former VT grad student. He only spent a semester in Blacksburg, but, as many of you former grad students know, he served as a teacher's assistant (TA) for a professor.

That same professor taught a class in an auditorium in Norris Hall, where the majority of the dead were killed. As we talked, he brought up his professor and then it hit me. So much of the time in school shootings like VT or Columbine we as a society tend to focus on the students. At least that's the first thing that pops into my mind.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. But we tend to forget about teachers and professors in instances like this. Everyone probably remembers the Dave Sanders stories from Columbine about the coach who was killed, but how long was it until Sanders' name was released?

For his sake, hopefully that Virginia Tech professor was one of the lucky ones who escaped a dark moment in American history.