Heroism
An Israeli lecturer who died in the massacre at a U.S. university saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his son said Tuesday.
Students of Liviu Librescu, 76, an engineering science and mathematics lecturer in at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said the son, Joe.
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At this point, I don't think I need to explain to anyone what happened in Blacksburg, Virginia yesterday. If you are reading this, then you have likely been inundated with news updates on TV, the radio, in papers, and on the internet. It has all been negative, and this constant stream of updates does nothing to help anyone.
I have been in a self-imposed broadcast news blackout since the Iraq War began. I couldn't take the commodification of human tragedy; turning death and suffering into a ratings bid and discussing endless minutia 24/7. I get my news from the paper, or from an online source like CNN.com.
But I'm getting sidetracked. My point is that especially in a tragedy like what happened yesterday, we need to look at the positive, so that we don't lose hope and turn to despair. I'm not suggesting that anything good happened yesterday, nor that there was a silver lining. But I do think that we should honor this man, who literally gave his life to protect others. The as-of-yet unidentified gunman yesterday gave us a hint of the evils that we are capable of. But Librescu showed us the inverse: all that is noble and pure about us. At a time when everyone is interested in showing us the evils that we are capable of, please don't lose sight of the good.
Liviu Librescu had a wife and a son. He was an internationally-renowned and well respected lecturer and engineer. He was, and will forever be, a hero. There is a well-known Jewish proverb that says "He who saves one life, saves the world."
Thank you for saving the world, Mr. Librescu.
Students of Liviu Librescu, 76, an engineering science and mathematics lecturer in at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said the son, Joe.
Read the full story.
At this point, I don't think I need to explain to anyone what happened in Blacksburg, Virginia yesterday. If you are reading this, then you have likely been inundated with news updates on TV, the radio, in papers, and on the internet. It has all been negative, and this constant stream of updates does nothing to help anyone.
I have been in a self-imposed broadcast news blackout since the Iraq War began. I couldn't take the commodification of human tragedy; turning death and suffering into a ratings bid and discussing endless minutia 24/7. I get my news from the paper, or from an online source like CNN.com.
But I'm getting sidetracked. My point is that especially in a tragedy like what happened yesterday, we need to look at the positive, so that we don't lose hope and turn to despair. I'm not suggesting that anything good happened yesterday, nor that there was a silver lining. But I do think that we should honor this man, who literally gave his life to protect others. The as-of-yet unidentified gunman yesterday gave us a hint of the evils that we are capable of. But Librescu showed us the inverse: all that is noble and pure about us. At a time when everyone is interested in showing us the evils that we are capable of, please don't lose sight of the good.
Liviu Librescu had a wife and a son. He was an internationally-renowned and well respected lecturer and engineer. He was, and will forever be, a hero. There is a well-known Jewish proverb that says "He who saves one life, saves the world."
Thank you for saving the world, Mr. Librescu.