Two Virginia Tech students look on during the moment of silence for Officer Deriek Crouse.
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Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — Correction: The third speaker was initially identified as Melissa Rumore, but her name is actually Amanda Rumore. The Collegiate Times apologizes for this error.
Thousands of community members came together to celebrate the life of fallen Virginia Tech Police officer Deriek Crouse on Friday night in a candlelight vigil.
More than half of the Drillfield was covered with about 4,000 people holding candles. The mood was calm, quiet and solemn. Many VTPD members as well as members of other law enforcement groups were present among the mourners. About 20 members of Crouse’s family and friends were gathered in a separate area in front of the War Memorial Chapel.
At 6:30 p.m., SGA president J Corbin DiMeglio addressed the crowd, saying that Crouse “paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
DiMeglio shared a message he said was sent to him by Lt. Joe Rader of the Virginia State Police.
DiMeglio said that Rader wrote, “I have been a witness to violent and senseless deaths, the loss of human and devastation of human society ... Where do we go from here?”
“I must maintain my belief in God,” DiMeglio said. “We must show love, kindness and friendship to each other.”
DiMeglio said that unless we have been in the position of those close to Crouse, “we cannot empathize, but we can sympathize.”
“Our time here is a blip, and we must make the most of it,” DiMeglio said.
“The rest of the nation truly realizes Virginia Tech is more than tragedy or sports programs,” he said.
After DiMeglio’s speech, theater professor Susanna Rinehart spoke. She was tearful and spoke emotionally.
“You are a beautiful sight. The sun set yesterday and rose today on our deep grief for what did happen and our deep gratitude for what did not happen.
“My heart is broken for Officer Crouse and his family, friends, fellow officers, and all who know and love him,” she said.
Rinehart also spoke about the emotional journey yesterday’s event took all of the campus on.
“I do not presume to know how you are feeling today or how you felt yesterday,” she said.
Rinehart spoke at length about how people had reacted to the events.
“It’s OK not to understand how we feel, but we must feel it,” she said.
Rinehart encouraged those in the crowd to connect with their fellow humans and to empathize with others in every day places like the grocery store, sidewalks, offices and apartments.
Rinehart said she was reminded of the events surrounding the April 16, 2007, campus shootings.
“We have long leftbehind the comfort of saying, ‘This would never happen here,’” she said.
She encouraged others to look for the seed of violence in their fellow humans and to “fill that space with love, kindness, empathy and compassion.”
Rinehart quoted a portion of the play “Rabbit Hole” by David Lindsay-Abaire, which received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 and was made into a movie in 2010. Rinehart said it was the last play she read with her class this semester.
In the play, both a daughter and her mother have each lost a son. The daughter asks the mother if the feeling of grief ever goes away. The mother replies that at some point it becomes bearable, like a brick in your pocket that you have instead of your son.
After giving that quote, Rinehart asked the crowd to observe a moment of silence.
Rinehart then read the poem “November” by Mary Oliver.
A version of this article appeared in the Dec 10 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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