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Most importantly: Friends should always come first (after God and family), but a true friend will want the best for you. A true friend will be willing to visit you no matter where you end up. A true friend will still talk to you even if you sell your soul to The Hatchet (I love you Sarah!).
No matter what insanely bizarre problems you have, there are people with the same problems, trust me. I learned from the Virginia Tech tragedy that things can always get worse but that God is ultimately forgiving. My amazingly supportive and loving family has a mantra, "God only gives you what He knows you can handle," and I have never found that to be a falsity.
At the risk of further exploiting an event that has been ripped to shreds by media sensationalism, Virginia Tech really did affect me in a profound way. Before I could even read the headlines that day, I saw that my brother had left me an instant message at about 10 a.m.: "I don't know if you've heard but there's a hell of a story down here." I read the message at 12:15 p.m., but I didn't understand the message until I relayed it to my father after listening to him frantically ramble for two minutes. I was apparently the first in my family to hear from Blacksburg.
I didn't know it before April 16, but this semester my brother has a class in the building next to Norris Hall every Monday. I was frantically working on my thesis that morning and turned my phone off to concentrate. After powering it up I found more messages than even a Hatchet editor should have on a Monday morning. While I listened to the messages my pace quickened to a sprint. "Why was everyone asking me if my brother was alright?" I thought. When I entered my dorm room I leapt to the computer, but before I could read the news I found the best instant message.
