Virginia Tech

I've been reading profiles of some of the victims of the Virginia Tech murders.

One professor -- a Holocaust survivor -- put himself in the doorway between the gunman and his students and told them to flee. These students have been emailing the professor's son to say how he saved their lives before he himself was shot.

Graduate students in engineering. Undergraduates in French class. A professor of French, a professor of German, two of engineering. People of all ages, backgrounds, talents.

All gone in a matter of minutes, and their families, their parents, will never know why. As if why makes any difference now anyway, or could provide any comfort whatsoever. A mentally ill student snaps - and all these lives are suddenly, brutally, senselessly over. There's not going to be a why that satisfies anyone.

My heart goes out to all who lost a child, a sibling, a parent, a friend, at Virginia Tech on Monday morning.