Should bells toll 32 or 33 times for VT tragedy?

This is a very sensitive subject and I do not intend to say that my opinion is the answer. I'm looking in from the outside on all of this. I didn't go to Virginia Tech and I've never lived in Blacksburg, VA. I do have connections to Tech and feel a certain sense of Hokie pride upon seeing, for example, someone wearing a VT hat while in London, England. There's this feeling that I have some kind of special relationship with Tech, as I'm sure many people have felt before, and feel even more strongly after the events of 4/16/07. I get choked up when I see the pictures, I flat out cry when I hear Nikki Giovanni's speech and I'm often even more emotional whenever I hear "Let's Go Hokies," especially somewhere other than at a sporting event. But the reality is: I'm an outsider here. And I'm well aware of that.

All of this to say: I wish that more people would remember that 33 people died as a result of the Virginia Tech shooting. I understand why people tend to just use the number 32, to make picture collages with 32 faces, to ring the bell 32 times and to light 32 candles. I definitely agree that it would be too much to include the person responsible for all these deaths during the remembrance ceremony that took place on the Drill Field this past Wednesday.

Should Seung-Hui Cho's name always be completely forgotten, though? Last year, it seems like there was more of a mix. Some radio stations asked for 32 seconds of silence while others played 33 bell chimes. I went to a church vigil that specifically used 33 candles to make the VT sign and I saw other vigils with 32 roses. This year, though, I cannot think of a time when I've seen the number 33 in place of 32. I cannot think of a time that Cho's name has been mentioned or his picture shown. I purposely added his picture to my flickr slideshow below but I also purposely put it after the other 32 and towards the end of the show, knowing that fewer people would click all the way to the end.

There are many reasons to leave Cho out of these memorials, vigils, ceremonies, etc. If nothing else, it can be hurtful to the families, friends and surviving victims as well as everyone who feels any kind of connection with Virginia Tech. We would also not want to glorify anything about what he did. I definitely understand these reasons and I agree with them.

I think there are also good reasons to include him in the number, though. Least of all, he did die as a result of the shooting and it is inaccurate to ignore that fact. Most of all, his life should be considered just as precious as anyone else's. I'm sure that sounds like a simplistic, hippie way of seeing things. It may even sound like something a religious zealot would say but you'll have to take my word for it when I say I'm not at all an overly-religious person. I simply believe that while Cho was clearly a mentally ill person who committed a terrible crime and robbed us of people of indescribable worth, he too deserves to be remembered.

I also believe that in taking Cho off the list, we lose the complete ability to learn from this situation. I do not believe that political policy or anything similar should be changed or created solely based on this attack but I do believe there is plenty to learn from it. Furthermore, it is not just for our policy makers and mental health professionals to learn from this tragedy. We as a society can and should learn multiple lessons and in order to learn those lessons, I think it is important for us to attempt to understand Cho and to resist the impulse to continuously ignore his part of the story.

Again, I do not want to make it sound like there is a clear cut answer here. I personally believe that it was best to not include Cho in the ceremony on Wednesday but I wish that he were included more often. I would not ask for victims or their families and friends to add Cho to any of their memorials. I would ask for people to consider the possibility of saying 33 instead of 32 and to then decide for themselves which they think is best. For the slideshow memorial I did and this blog entry, I choose 33. I cannot promise that in another situation I wouldn't choose 32 instead.


Next time I write, I intend to talk about violence in America, particularly violence in American youth. I plan to tie back to this entry and what I said about society learning from this tragedy. I also plan to include some links next time. None this time.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!