Four weeks after massacre, graduation at Virginia Tech

Washington - Four weeks after the bloody massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, nearly 5,000 students received their degrees Friday in a ceremony that memorialized the 32 people killed by a student gunmen. Retired US General John Abizaid, who was head of the United States Central Command during the early years of the war in Iraq, told the audience of 30,000 that the school had shown great character in dealing with the tragedy. Abizaid, the guest speaker, compared the school's resilience and conduct in the 'harsh spotlight' of publicity to the 'tenacity and courage' of New Yorkers after the 2001 terrorist attacks, and the 'confidence and calmness under intense pressure' of the 2005 British after the London subway terrorist attacks. 'Adversity has a way of challenging us sooner or later,' he said. 'How we bear adversity's seemingly unsurmountable challenges marks how others will judge us and how we judge ourselves.' The 27 students who died on April 16 received honourary degrees given to their families during the ceremonies, and were symbolically accepted into the family of the school's 200,000 alumnae. The names of the students, along with the professors who died, were read out. The family of Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old English student from South Korea who opened fire in a dorm room and classrooms on April 16, did not receive a diploma. The killings were the worst massacre by a single shooter in US history. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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okMay 12th, 2007 - 11:16:57

time to stop the pissing and moaning and get on with life

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Four weeks after massacre, graduation at Virginia Tech

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