Let me just be blunt for a moment.
I care more about people than I do about animals. I don't understand why no one seems very perturbed when a professional athlete rapes a woman, but horrified when he leads dogfighting. Yes- dogfighting is wrong and sad and awful. But why do people always cry when animals die in movies, but we can watch other human beings get shot down without a problem? I learned in my social psych class that if people were killed in real life at the rate they are in the media, the U.S. population would be killed off in 50 days. There are four violent acts shown on TV for every single act of kindness.
WHAT?!
Look, I'm sorry, I know I sound like a huge hippie, but I just can't do violence. I can't. I will never spank my child, no matter how many people try to convince me that it's not harmful. Yes, I'm sure a lot of children get spanked and turn out fine. But I will not be one of those parents who does it, I just won't. I can't. I shoved a kid I was babysitting a little too hard once when I was like 13, and I will never forget the look on his face as long as I live. I will never forget how horrified I was at myself, and how I felt like a monster.
I don't believe in war. I try. Like I try to believe that sometimes war is justified. And I do believe that there are ways to fight wars that are more just than others, but I don't understand why that's the most effective action. It literally makes my bones weary to think about. Maybe it's because I always want to believe that everyone is goodhearted and has the very best of intentions, and that's why I think diplomacy is always the best choice. And I know people think that's stupid, I do. But I will not be the kind of person that is jaded and thinks all people are only out for themselves, I won't. Even if people continuously provide evidence to the contrary, I will always maintain that we are motivated, at our very core, by love.
And you know, not believing in war doesn't mean I hate America. It really doesn't. Hell, being a Democrat does not mean I hate America. I love America and I love Americans, and I don't want any more of them to die in war! How is that an unpatriotic standpoint? I want to save lives. Maybe that's the thing though- I want to save lives, not just American lives, but globally, I want to save lives. I don't want to be discriminatory with my love. I want my love to settle like a blanket over the earth.
I don't want to fight. I don't want to argue. I don't want to feel tension and conflict. I don't want to hate, I don't want to hit, I don't want to shoot a gun, I don't ever even want to hold a gun. I don't want to spank my children and I won't marry anyone who wants to spank my children. I want to do everything I can to promote a peaceful lifestyle. I want to love everyone. I want to be like Jesus.
Isn't she beautiful? AHHH I love her. Too excited to sleep!
The Westboro Baptist Church is coming to Blacksburg today, a week before the 3-year anniversary of the shooting, to tell us we deserved it. There's a student-organized rally going on on campus (the WBC will be at three different places downtown, but the university is not advocating that students actually go there), and I'm terrified of what it might turn into. Because I'm not really interested in going to an anti-WBC angerfest. If we are angry, and we hate them, what does that accomplish? when does hatred ever accomplish anything? I want today to be an outpouring of strength, a time to remind ourselves how much we all love each other, how much we love the Hokie Nation, how WE WILL PREVAIL. 
