Liviu Librescu, Hero
Don't really feel like writing much tonight...events like today's make me want to hunker down with my girlfriend and our dog and shut the mad world out.
I did want to take a moment to share the story of one of the victims. I don't know if he will get the recognition he deserves in the coming days, and certainly in light of the tragedy there will be an overwhelming emphasis placed on all the horrific details of today's events. But in my search for something, anything to renew my faith in the human spirit, I read the story of professor Liviu Librescu. Mr. Librescu died today, his final act being to sacrifice himself so that his students might escape. Although the story below doesn't state his fate, the Virginia Tech website is now reporting his death. Godspeed to him...
I wrote this poem yesterday to honor Mr. Librescu and am trying to distribute it as widely as possible. Thank you.
My Stand
A Tribute to Liviu Librescu
By Philip C. Selz 4/18/07
In the darkest times we’ve seen, I was sent into the camps
As I smelled the stench of burning flesh, I knew my kin were gone
Survival was my only thought, I knew I must come through
But I didn’t know the reason that my living must go on
And when the war had ended, liberation finally came
And I grew to be a man and shortly after took a wife
And we raised our kids in Israel and we did the best we could
And we lived for those who died and worked to make a useful life
Then a teaching job came to me in America one day
And I thought that building new young minds was destiny for me
So I traveled to Virginia and I made a brand new start
And I taught engineering in this homeland of the free
Now I hear the hallways screaming as shots are fired there
And I hear the terror in the screams and understand their plight
So I bar the door from danger and I tell my students “Run!”
And as the bullets breach the door I know that I must fight
And in these final moments as my life is seeping out
I think back over 60 years and finally understand
My own salvation now makes sense as children flee and live
I was saved that day to save this day, I’ve finally made my stand
Thank you for sharing that...it's beautiful, and it gives me some comfort to think maybe he was saved from the Holocaust to save others many years later. When I first posted this blog entry, details about the shooting were just coming out and I wasn't sure if his story was going to be one that the media latched on to. I'm happy now that in the past few days his actions have been recognized (even by the President). None of us know how we would act in a situation like that until we are put in it, but I hope all of us can learn something from his death.
That is really powerful! The man is truly a hero. To go through what he went through during the Holocaust, then to spend the rest of his life helping others, and sacrifice his own life while saving others, is what being a true human being is about. Thanks for posting that! I may actually write something too.