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"Guernica" by Pablo Picasso
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A Lonely Flower: A Reflection on Hope at Virginia Tech
by Carson Byrd*
The background on my laptop displays a picture. Some would say that it is one of beauty, while others might say that it is total abstraction and chaos. No matter what the quick interpretations are, the picture seems to always cause inquisitive looks. In black, white and gray shades of paint, it is Picasso's Guernica.
Some are aware of the story of the fateful day on April 27, 1937, when a little Basque town in the mountains of northern Spain, Guernica, fell victim to the war machine of the Nazi regime aided by Generalissimo Francisco Franco. A three-day firestorm engulfed approximately 1,600 citizens of a peaceful community.
Picasso crafted a piece of art that melded art and politics in a way that has arguably been unmatched.
When asked about the symbolism in Guernica, Picasso said, "It isn't up to the painter to define the symbols. Otherwise it would be better if he wrote them out in so many words! The public who look at the picture must interpret the symbols as they understand them."
Despite the depiction of chaos, war, destruction, and sorrow, I find hope.
Virginia Tech memorial at night
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In the center of the painting is a dismembered soldier whose right hand holds a broken sword. From the handle of the sword and the hand of the dead soldier sprouts a lone flower. Why did Picasso insert that one flower? The presence of all that destruction and loss, and yet, a flower spreads its petals for the world to see.
Obviously I can't ask Picasso why, and his statement above suggests that even if I were given the opportunity to ask the question, I shouldn't. My interpretation is that Picasso held hope for a community and a world that had witnessed so much war, a place that had lost so much. That little flower gives me hope.
Ten days short of the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Guernica, a young man filled with hate and rage shook a college town in the mountains of Virginia. At the end of his classroom shooting spree, 32 people were dead and many more wounded. Looking back today, nearly a year since the tragic event that happened at Virginia Tech, in the community I call home, I still ask the inevitable question of "Why?", but it does not come up quite as often as it once did. I've accepted the fact that I will never know the answer.
The loss of our family members has made many of us realize that we need to enjoy the company of everyone around us because they may all impact our lives for the better. Their impact might never be seen and, in the end, how someone affects our life may not be in a way we anticipate, but they do have an impact.
Meeting someone like Jarrett Lane or Austin Cloyd is a very special thing to experience. Both were among the victims. Sometimes we do not realize just how special people are or how they contribute to who we are until they are gone. Avoid that mistake and take care of each other as if every person were you in disguise. Show love and compassion to all and understand that life is too short to hate anyone or anything.
Dave Matthews Concert
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With the days growing longer, the semester becoming shorter, and the sound of birds chirping in the air, it almost seems like life as a student is normal. Classes are still in full swing. The libraries are full with students finding those last minute sources for papers. Waffle House and McDonald's are still the locations of choice for that late night snack. Things are normal.
This perception, though, glazes over the reality that the terms "normal" and "fluid" have been redefined, not only in my eyes, but the eyes of all who are members of college communities. What is normal in the life of college students today? What is normal for college faculty and administrators? With those questions comes an infinite number of answers spawning even more questions, all having been affected by the events of the past year.
If I were to say that today is normal, there would be individuals who would say that it is not. Those individuals may stake claim that the semester's workload is overbearing, professors and administrators are making students' lives a mess, there is nothing to eat in the dining halls, for some reason the gas gauge on their car doesn't really tell them how much gas they have or something along those lines. They may also point out that more restrictions and limitations have been established for all on campus, making work and social life alike more difficult, all of which are a result of the past.
"Normal." What exactly is normal? Before last spring, to me, normal meant that I did not have to hear the sirens screaming, see the waterfall of tears from all those around me, and to realize that life for a dear friend had ceased. But at one point in time that was normal.
Having to use my Hokie Passport on campus more often than a year before, the reconfiguration of handles on doors, and the installation of peep holes on classroom doors is now normal. A memorial in front of the main administrative building, Burruss Hall, in the heart of campus is now normal. The invisible boundary that keeps people from walking to that memorial is normal, along with the fear of entering Norris Hall and West AJ; a growing awareness that change is normal.
The past year has led me to look back not only at the events of April 16, but also my life and human history. Throughout time we, as humans, have endured catastrophic loss, but we have also had tremendous ingenuity and happiness as well. We ride a rollercoaster of highs and lows in the dark. We cannot necessarily see the next turn, climb or drop. There will be times when the world will seem to be coming to an end, and the rollercoaster will keep dropping, but it only seems that way. The rollercoaster will begin to climb again. Strength is not only found in the weight room, but also in the mind, with the hope that tomorrow will be a better day.
The reflection I gave at the memorial service held in Broyhill Chapel at Mars Hill was a summary of my life following April 16. The semicircle of Hokiestones placed by the students of Hokies United has led to a permanent memorial to be constructed where they used to lie. Larger stones have replaced the temporary smaller ones with the names of our family members lost a year ago inscribed on the top.
The thousands of boards and posters that were sent to our institution from around the world are now being catalogued and archived for a possible museum in the future. Sadly, the Virginia Tech community had to return the favor of support to those of the Northern Illinois University community following Valentine's Day this year; another drop in the rollercoaster of life. Norris Hall will soon be the site of a center on violence prevention and peace studies, and the words written by Nikki Giovanni, a poet and professor of English at Virginia Tech, continue to echo in the halls of every dorm, every classroom, and every crevice of the New River Valley. "We will prevail…."
Sometimes you will find someone saying that "we will prevail", but as our strength grows with each passing day, you will hear more people say that "we did prevail". Hurt, anger and pain are still found in the souls and hearts of many around Virginia Tech, but those emotions are supported by a community that is ever-expanding and comforting. That community includes those at other colleges and universities, including Mars Hill, as well as others from around the world.
The lonely flower in Picasso's Guernica was found in the heart of Hokie Nation amidst chaos and loss. No longer is that flower alone, but there is a meadow of flowers, a meadow of hope for the world to embrace.
* Carson Byrd graduated from Mars Hill College in 2005 and is currently studying sociology at Virginia Tech, where he is personal research assistant for the Vice President of Multicultural Affairs. He was on campus when the shootings occurred in April of last year and wrote a reflection about it then.
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