“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus. Let us not ignore that.

I agree whole heartedly. I was in Cleveland yesterday, and read an article in the Plain Dealer which interviewed Mr. Read who lost a daughter. He asked the media to refrain from further sensationalization of the coverage with the focus on Cho, and instead, to remember and celebrate the goodness of the lives of so many people that were lost. The news media has been glorifying the killer by giving him a disproportionate amount of news coverage. He and many parents would have prefered the details to Cho be released after the mourning process. The news media refrains from listing rape victims out of respect for the victims. Why not hold off voluntarily on playing into the agenda of the killer?

Could not agree more with the previous comments. While the coverage is certainly not enough, here is an interesting article that speaks to some of the issues: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=c81360ec-bf15-43ab-a9a3-731266b7795b or http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=c81360ec-bf15-43ab-a9a3-731266b7795b It is too bad that true heroism is not valued more in our society. cheers, Paul

“The Media.” They (NOT it) “glorify” what they promote. Have you (if you are a Christian) ever thought that the media is demonically “possessed?” What Cho did, he got the support for the coverage of events like Columbine and other violence celebrating events.”IF it bleeds, it leads.” It is a press credo. It is their mantra. Death sells. Murder makes money for the media. Dear Christians, it is time to get your head out of the sand and see “The powers and principalites” for who and what they are. Do you think MTV is an accident? Debauchery is well-planned. Do you think Gay Marriage is Godly “progress?” It is a process from one ill to another. Our schools are an education arena for violence, promiscuity and godless secularism the likes of which the world has never seen. Cho didn’t try to Evangelize the students of Virginia Tech – like Jesus preaches – and Cho didn’t cast the dust from his feet and leave others alone to their own lives, he went Rambo on them. He was given celebrated immortality for his actions by a media that promises it to any violent sociopath. And, I do not use sociopath in a “psychological” way. Psychologists are the Priest Class of the religion of Secular Humanism. Including prophets, priests and kings leading their assault on morality. All mus now be blessed by a psycholgist for overall mental health. Remember the “concept” of the Psyche (a Greek idea), is that it is the soul. We now have soul doctors allowed to be promoted and allowed unfettered power, “by the state.” One is not a genius in the origin of the concept. One “has” a genius guiding him. Oh how the world of the media thinks it is oh so elite in its intelligence. Now truly, 5 x 5 can equal “16″ if that is how you feel. Cho will not be labeled as Demon-possessed by the Priest Psychologists. They will excuseify his actions within “their” interpretations. The DSM IV has every answer for mankinds ills. It replaces the Bible, which belief in the Psychologists want to put into the manual of mental illnesses. How convenient. Our children (so many now fatherless from secularism) see so much violence from TV and movies . . . and the real life violence following TV violence, glorified in a culture that justifies and heroizes Gangsters and Pimps, Players and Whores, and wars and revenge, that there can be no denying the reality that Satan is controlling much of society. The Gospel message is one of pure peace and non-violnce. Simply NOT the same as secular beliefs. Head to your local movie theatre complex and see for yourself what is popular with our society. Just like Satan told Jesus, he declares he has the license, the permission, to do what he does. Once Christians rid themselves of the heretics and imposters (not necessarily satanic) within their own Churches, they need to focus on what “the world and its ways” really are. Liberals and Progressives, the selfish rich and religious fundamentalist extremists, exist for the same purpose. To disrupt the Evangelical mission of promoting the Gospel. Christians need to realize that they ARE seperated “from the world.”Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, James, Jude, and the other influences of the New Testament writings, have made the many identifying features of a follower of God in Christ Jesus quite easy. Evil people may be cunning in their deceptions. They will not repent, AND they will promote their sins to be committed by others.Secularists, Liberals and Progressives and extremists, Humanists and the like, will not repent, AND they always want to get others to do as they do. The denominations throughout Christian culture, show that the “body of Christ” can be quite diverse. Unlike the lemming-step bobbleheadism of what the secular world wants from us. Satan IS alive and well on planet Earth. Open a newspaper, or watch a bit of TV news and see. (Keep your Bibles for reference material to the truth within ancient and modern history.) Or, watch a typical Hollywood movie. Now goodness and Godly morality are bigotry and a hate crime. Evil and perversion are protected civil rights. And Jesus said . . .: “For those that have eyes let them see. For those that have ears, let them hear.” Advice for His followers to put into practice every single day.

Librescu survived the Holocaust and Ceausescu only to be gunned down while allowing his students to escape at Virginia Tech. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of this post. We have many examples of evil such as Cho’s in our history. Instead of wallowing in that evil, let’s celebrate the heroism that Librescu displayed … both in life and in death.

David, I agree with your comments — Cho has been getting too much attention and it’s time to move on and celebrate the lives of the people that were killed and join in sympathy with those who mourn. I do disagree with one statement you made; you said, “Cho was evil.” I think it would be more theological accurate to say he committed evil acts, but not that he was, in fact, evil. No one is purely either evil or good, we are all have moments of both, though I do believe we are essentially good at our core. We also must consider that Cho may have been suffering from a severe mental illness that clouded his ability to make good decisions and, thus, he may have been incapable of sinning, in the same way very young children are incapable of sin because their youth and inexperience impair their judgment. I also agree that those who helped others survive should be praised, but I also think we let ourselves off the hook too easily when we divide people into groups like heroes, victims, and murderers. We attempt to make sense of a tragedy like this by placing labels on people and we shield ourselves from the incomprehensible sorrow of it all. We name our heroes and have a feel good moment about the whole thing. Certainly it is right and good to celebrate those who died to save others. But let us not keep this from asking the hard questions of ourselves and of our faith.

I don’t even watch television news coverage anymore. It’s run by people in the entertainment business, not journalists. Entertainment=whatever gets butts in the seats. If that’s gore, violence and seemingly endless debate on what exactly makes a person commit a heinous act, then that’s what you’ll see on television. Attempting to define the nature of “evil” is an endless debate that has gone on as long as humans themselves, now doubt, and will not be accomplished by people in the news entertainment business. All I need to do is to define what to me reaffirms life. It’s never wrong to focus on the positives that comes out of any bad situation. It’s called “hope”.

Not only that, but he died the day after Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Truly a great and noble man.

Dear Mr. Cho, I just wrote about this on my new blog, which I linked above. Campus Catholic Light to the World There are deeply disturbed, destructive people in our world. This we know for sure. There are also everyday saints among us. This we have humbly witnessed. In Blacksburg, Virginia, gunman Cho Seung Hui killed a Holocaust survivor. Professor Liviu Librescu, a 76 year-old professor of engineering, threw himself in front of a doorway into which the gunman was shooting and implored his students to flee. Liviu sacrificed himself for others. What he did seems unnatural, superhuman. Liviu did not shirk, he did not cower. When a human should retreat, Liviu opened himself, becoming vulnerable to death. All his students, after jumping from a window, lived. “He saved my life,” Senior Caroline Merrey said. In Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, gunman Charles Carl Roberts killed an Amish schoolgirl last year. In the simple schoolhouse in Pennsylvania, 13 year-old Marian Fisher pleaded with her killer, saying Shoot me first. Emboldened by her sister s witness, her 11 year-old sister Barbie added Shoot me second. Marian died of her wounds. Barbie survived hers. I believe the violence done to Liviu and Marian was fleeting and small when compared to the permanent goodness they have shown. The example they gave us by reacting honorably, with dignity and purpose, even in the face of senseless violence, will live on. They have illuminated the darkest places on earth. May we too live their peaceful, resolute virtue. Liviu and Marian did not wake up on those two awful days determined to do something heroic. They simply reacted as they had many other days: with a consideration of the value of others, and a belief that they could contribute to our world. I don t need a seething killer in front of me to consider how I can contribute. But if one was there, what would I do?

Professor Liviu Librescu should be remember as a hero because he showed great compassion for his students. We should focus on the good people of this earth. Not all the evil people.

I agree about Professor Liviu being a hero. My question to all is whether some of us in the Christian world are so “Christianity-centered” that we don’t adopt people from other religions as our heroes? I mean no disrespect by this question, but I do mean for the question to be provocative.Peace.

Through nearly 30 years of fighting fires I have always been keenly aware that the perilous nature of my chosen profession could someday force me to make the “ultimate sacrifice.” I know this, as do all firefighters. Soldiers share the same burden, even as they work under what are surely, sadly, even less attractive odds of meeting a heroic fate. When you choose an occupation like these you are often regarded as a hero. It’s flattering and well intentioned, but often an overstatement. Many of us choose to take these chances but in our hearts we calculate the odds greatly in our favor. The truest form of self-sacrificial heroism was demonstrated by a man who’s career choice promised him safety and security. Perhaps the nightmares of his youth instilled upon him an emergency plan that he hoped he would never have to use. It may have been the horrors experienced when he was younger than a college student that carved a niche of bravado so profound in his moral compass that when he heard the first gunshot at Virginia Tech, he knew what he had to do. A school aged Liviu Librescu survived the Holocaust but died saving his own imperiled students over six decades later. It’s impossible to say how God’s hand plays into such things. But no matter how miraculous his survival during World War II, moments before his brave death Professor Liviu Librescu became a doomed but beautiful Guardian Angel to countless students that are now alive only because true heroism can be found in the most unlikely of places.

heroic deeds need not be prefaced with historical personage. do you think it makes a bigger better hero if first they are are precieved as a victim/survivor? just wondering.Thank you for your insightful suggestion. Best wishes to all those in the situations that arrive suddenly.