Der Parson's rant

Here is a great comment that was left, the media loves to show pictures of the crazy gunman, but they hardly mention the heroes.

Anonymous said...
Consider all the airtime and column space given to the villain of the Virginia tragedy, to his 23-page statements and his 43 sickening photographs. Now compare it with the references one needs to search for two heroes who gave their own lives to save others'.

Do NBC and others find no significance and educational value to highlight the sacrifice made by these two gentlemen?

I hope that media will suspend repeatedly playing the killer's tapes and videos and dedicate some space to honor examples of bravery like Liviu Librescu, the 76-year-old maths professor who held shut the door of his classroom while his pupils scrambled to safety, and was then shot dead .

Another fallen hero is Virginia Tech student Waleed Mohammed Shaalan, who was hit by three bullets, including one in the head, in an attempt to save a fellow student.

Shaalan, 32, had been at Virginia Tech since August studying for a Ph.D. in civil engineering. He was ambitious, saying he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Ahmed Zewail, an Egyptian who won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1999, said his father, Mohammed Shaalan, 65.

The day before Monday's massacre, Shaalan called home and said he intended to visit Egypt next month and then return to Virginia with his wife and 15-month-old son who had been living in Egypt, his parents said Thursday. The family got another call two days later. The Egyptian Embassy in Washington told them Shaalan had been one of the 32 victims.


See his 2004 wedding photo at
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/24hour/world/story/3603061p-12883822c.html