Day of Mourning

My wife noted that while the English language has a word for a child who has lost his/her parents and a word for one spouse who loses the other, there is no word for a parent who has lost a child. She suggested the reason for this omission is because it is never supposed to happen. Regrettably it did this week.

Someone I worked with in the past knows the family of Rachael Elizabeth Hill. Rachael was murdered on Monday at Virginia Tech. What hit me the most is knowing that her parents will never again feel the embrace of a child they love; Rachael was an only child.

On this day of mourning and remembrance of those killed at Virginia Polytechnic, I haven't forgotten the family of the murderer, Seung-Hui Cho. I imagine that feeling "hopeless, helpless, and lost" only touches on the depths of their despair.