The Virginia Tech Experience and its Message to Community Association Life

I walked the memorials at Virginia Tech on Sunday, April 29, 2007 and felt strongly the impact of each of thirty-three lives. We were there to pick up my twenty year-old son and immerse ourselves in the experience of bringing home a living child from a horrific nightmare.

If you know the buildings and drill field of Virginia Tech, you will never be able to picture them in the same way. Even the trees are draped for mourning on the drill field with banners of orange, maroon and black. There are thirty-three memorial sites in a semi-circle near the main administration building and further out to the center of the field, there is a tent covering countless signatures on white paper, pictures, notes, memorabilia, pamphlets, ribbons, Virginia Tech mementos, scraps of material, thoughts, books, and programs from memorial services – the residue of loss and memory. There is a proliferation of orange and maroon and black. There is a hushed silence among the persons who walk among the memorials and a kindred spirit of grief.

We don’t know these thirty-three individuals except in slight ways. They are the son of a Richmond contractor; the daughter of a Richmond couple; two girls who were in a friend’s dance class; that gregarious guy in the band; a professor with an accent; individuals who loved teaching and Virginia Tech and so much more that is mentioned and overheard at the memorials. We listen, tearfully eavesdropping to grasp hold of those who are gone and to capture them forever in our memories the way they were – young, old, freshmen, seniors, grad students, teaching assistants, professors, dancers, engineers, mathematicians, musicians. What a massive loss of youth, experience, enthusiasm, brightness, and potential! There were thirty-two individuals who woke up on Monday, April 16, 2007 to go about the details of their education or work with the dedication required for the new day – a day of promise that turned into a day of horror and heartache. One person got up that day with evil intent and carried out his plan for murder and mayhem, horribly impacting thousands by his single-minded plan – thirty-three lives forever and inextricably linked.

In the midst of the hushed grief of the Virginia Tech memorials and the restless motions of almost two hundred people, I could see a kite flying from another area of the drill field. I saw a man lay red roses at each memorial site and I heard the sounds of a volleyball from a far quadrant. A woman sat on the ground between the two memorials and held her face in her hands. Students held on to each other and moved quietly between the piles of flowers and written well wishes from other colleges and universities. Between the semi-circle of memorials and the tent, I witnessed a man with a baby and two dogs in tow walk by quickly, making soft sounds to the baby.

Life does go on. We still must get up and go about the demands of our days – whether for education or work, and muster up the dedication and faith to look forward, albeit sometimes falteringly to the future. The future still holds promise and potential and forgiveness. It also holds a renewed conviction in the impact of one life. Just as those thirty-three individuals impacted their families and the people around them for good and for grief, you and I carry the same ability. We must be ever mindful of the fact that our actions can impact for good or grief and that there is a far-reaching influence to our daily decisions. One person does make a difference and one person can make a difference.

In our daily immersion in the field of association management, I hope that we will remember the Virginia Tech tragedy and keep in mind this marvelous and mysterious potential that each of us has to impact another. Can we use our impact in positive ways? Can we motivate one another to better and higher attitudes and experiences in life? Can we truly be supportive of the “heart” of our communities by encouraging the good in all aspects of what we do? It appears to me with the explosion of community associations and the ongoing demands for our industry that we will do well not to forget the community aspect. We do share in community – our neighborhood, our city, our nation. Community impacts us in so many ways – let’s choose at this time, to welcome community as it comes. Let’s choose to impact the lives around us for good in better ways of community-mindedness. Let’s allow those thirty-three lives to provide the needed steps toward the healing that is so desperately needed for much of America – one neighborhood at a time; one phone call at a time; one Board meeting at a time. Let’s not allow all that potential and good and energy to be lost, but rather let’s pick it up; let’s move it forward; let’s focus on the good and positive. Let’s build community! We may never know the impact of our approach, but we do know there is an impact. I personally want mine to be for good and not for grief!

Philip Adams, CMCA®, PCAM®
Vice President and Director of Management Operations
Community Group
Richmond, VA