:: Prevailing From Tragedy ::  

It was a temperate spring Saturday. The sun cracked through the clouds that carried occasional sprinkles, reaching down to the crowd of mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers that had come to the ballpark. A crisp April breeze blew through a community who had gathered in the bleachers and on the outfield to rally behind its youngest and most inexperienced. Smiles shown out on the sea of five, six, and seven year olds dressed in brightly-colored uniforms not yet dirtied by the much anticipated season. A few cameras snapped in the audience. As I looked out on the nearly three thousand individuals who had gathered to start the Little League season, I was powerfully struck that this was what America was all about; this is where America gets her strength.

Here families gathered to root for the success of children not just on the baseball diamond, but success as they grew and developed far beyond the sports fields of Chesterfield County. I thought about these children, eager for the opportunity in front of them. How fortunate they are to grow up in America and how blessed they are to have families beside them on that day and the other days of their lives.

As I took to the mound to throw the opening pitch of the season, I couldn’t have imagined that less than 48 hours later, a tragedy of enormous proportion would strike four hours to the southwest at Virginia Tech. Two days later, the fickle April weather would turn and on that cold windy morning in Blacksburg, in a matter of hours, a community, a state, and a nation would feel a devastation that rocked the core of who they were and in what they believed. Millions of people across the world would tune their televisions to the news. And as our minds would try to grapple with what we will never understand, a great heaviness would set upon our hearts.

Three days later I would find myself in another sporting arena, Cassell Coliseum. Instead of looking out on a smiling crowd of three thousand, three times that number would surround me to mourn in a facility traditionally reserved for pep rallies, basketball games, or graduation ceremonies. Twenty thousand more would fill Virginia Tech’s football stadium to view the convocation from the jumbotron. Millions more would watch from their televisions at home or at work.

Around me that day would be young, innocent faces overcome with grief, arms draped around each other in comfort, shoulders bent under the weight of great sorrow. Next to them would be the thousands of parents, teachers, alumni, and legislators who would fail that day—and in the coming days—to meet the insurmountable challenge of expressing in words why such a tragedy had happened to these students’ hallmates, their classmates, and their friends.

But in the midst of a college campus mourning 33 lives cut short, strength would emerge. As renowned poet and Virginia Tech University Distinguished Professor Nikki Giovanni ended her poem with the repetition, “We will prevail,” the self-proclaimed “Hokie Nation” would stand to their feet and cheer. The eyes of a generation studying and preparing to lead America would fill with courage, reminded that although they will never forget what happened, together they could move forward with hope, courage, and love.

In the days that followed, America would pour out her heart with love and compassion for the Virginia Tech community. Thousands would drive hours to the Blacksburg campus to comfort the mourning. Letters, emails, blogs, and websites across the world would testify to those standing with this much-loved university family. Candlelight ceremonies for the victims would be held around the world in the nights that followed. Hundreds of thousands would dawn Burnt Orange and Chicago Maroon in solidarity. And Virginia Tech would find its greatest rival, the University of Virginia, reaching out in extraordinary ways to replace intense competition with intense compassion.

From the vantage point of less than a week from Monday’s tragedy, the pain of the world we live in seems rawer and more agonizing. We live amongst media corps who fail to report on the goodness that surrounds us. We live in a culture driven by those who hail Hollywood more than our hometowns. Daily we are beat down by the news of crime, injustice, slanderous tongues, and political smears. And the cameras and the pens of our media probe deeper and deeper into the most personal of pain to propel into homes despair as dark as the black barrel of the killer’s weapon pointed at us on our TVs and on the internet.

But while America is not perfect, America is great. We are great because the differences so prominently displayed on our televisions are not the chasms we are led to believe they are. We are great because America comes together as a family, regardless of political affiliations, religious beliefs, socioeconomic levels, or race especially in times of national need. Yet, we often see only small glimpses of the evidence of that greatness. If we don’t take the time to notice them, they are easy to miss: parents instilling values in their children; volunteers helping those in financial need; the young caring for the elderly; individuals dedicated to preserving our environment; pastors and church leaders guiding their congregations; teachers and coaches giving up their time for our children; the list could go on and on truly because the evidence of America’s greatness is overwhelming.

As America again takes center stage in the world media and as our tragedy and our heartbreak becomes fodder for the thousands that seek to destroy our nation, we will stand strong in our grief. While the pages of our history books are lined with the distinctions of democracy, law, science, and arts that place us in the company of the greatest civilizations of world history, we do not seek comfort here. We have no source of strength greater than the love of our families, the strength of our communities, and the prayers of forefathers. God has blessed America richly and we will turn to Him and ask Him to continue to bless America in this time of darkness. And when the sun returns to our lives, when the smiles return to our faces, we will show again that America will prevail.