Spring Break
Sports can help ease pain at VT
Matt Sohn
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Sports
In sports and in life, hope springs eternal.
So what do you say to a Virginia Tech community whose indelible image of college is that of their classmates, friends, professors and lovers senselessly slaughtered? How does a mother cope with seeing her son's farewell to Blacksburg be in a body bag instead of on a graduation podium? The sad truth is that for the grieving Hokie family, there's no salve for their wound.
Even with all the advancements in medical science, there's no painkiller for this kind of hurt - no stadium construction, buzzer-beater or championship ring that will ever change the reality of those dealing with premature death.
What these men and women can do is remind themselves that to make the most of every moment as the universal healing power of time runs its course.
A similar lesson applies to everyone, everywhere. For those of us biding our final days in Oxford, let's not bemoan our imminent departure, but rather celebrate our journey. For those continuing your collegiate experience, make plans for making the most of your time here.
And this is where the beauty of sport lies for everybody. For the majority of us, our life's course won't be affected by athletics. It won't give us a raise or get us fired, won't find us happiness or despair in romance, nor will it ease the agony from the families of Virginia Tech and others coping with tragedy.
What it can do, however, is provide us with a needed respite from the constant grind of life. When the Hokie football team storms the field Sept. 1 for its season-opening clash with Eastern Carolina, nobody will forget the massacre that afflicted their campus months earlier. But, for a three-hour stretch on a Saturday afternoon, they can turn their attention away from grief, schoolwork and jobs, and onto the raucous adulation that transpires on the field.
As Tom Cochran's song reminds us, "Life is a highway," and as sports remind us, there are many rest stops along the way.
So what do you say to a Virginia Tech community whose indelible image of college is that of their classmates, friends, professors and lovers senselessly slaughtered? How does a mother cope with seeing her son's farewell to Blacksburg be in a body bag instead of on a graduation podium? The sad truth is that for the grieving Hokie family, there's no salve for their wound.
Even with all the advancements in medical science, there's no painkiller for this kind of hurt - no stadium construction, buzzer-beater or championship ring that will ever change the reality of those dealing with premature death.
What these men and women can do is remind themselves that to make the most of every moment as the universal healing power of time runs its course.
A similar lesson applies to everyone, everywhere. For those of us biding our final days in Oxford, let's not bemoan our imminent departure, but rather celebrate our journey. For those continuing your collegiate experience, make plans for making the most of your time here.
And this is where the beauty of sport lies for everybody. For the majority of us, our life's course won't be affected by athletics. It won't give us a raise or get us fired, won't find us happiness or despair in romance, nor will it ease the agony from the families of Virginia Tech and others coping with tragedy.
What it can do, however, is provide us with a needed respite from the constant grind of life. When the Hokie football team storms the field Sept. 1 for its season-opening clash with Eastern Carolina, nobody will forget the massacre that afflicted their campus months earlier. But, for a three-hour stretch on a Saturday afternoon, they can turn their attention away from grief, schoolwork and jobs, and onto the raucous adulation that transpires on the field.
As Tom Cochran's song reminds us, "Life is a highway," and as sports remind us, there are many rest stops along the way.
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