One Day Blog Silence In Honor Of The Victims Of Virginia Tech

I can´t believe it. I was at dinner when two good friends and I heard the news on television. Hours later I was sitting on my laptop not able to formulate any words, thoughts...anything.

BLACKSBURG, Va. — A gunman massacred 32 people at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history Monday, cutting down his victims in two attacks two hours apart before the university could grasp what was happening and warn students. The bloodbath ended with the gunman committing suicide, bringing the death toll to 33 and stamping the campus in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains with unspeakable tragedy, perhaps forever.

I felt like I had to write something. Anything. But I didn´t know how. I felt like there is nothing I can write to describe what I feel.

So I called my two friends Euripidis and Halil to talk about this tragedy and we decided that we had to do something.

So we started the One Day Blog Silence Initiative tonite in honor towards the victims of Virginia.

Silence can say more then a thousand words.

On April 30th 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor towards the victims of Virginia.  33 died at the US college massacre.

***UPDATE: I just read this and it put tears in my eyes. Please Read Silence is a Memoriam, Not a Reason to Stop Blogging  ***

We did our best. Now we need your help - Find out what to do.

Comments

[Tiara]

While the intent is appreciated, I doubt this will actually help.

The "blogosphere" is far too wide and vast that a group of blogs going silent would not make much of an impact. Also, how does this help the victims? The people indirectly affected? Us?

There's so much wrong happening in the world every single day - should we be silent every single day?

Instead of silence, we should speak up. Speak up against school violence. Speak up for students that have faced trauma. Speak up against the atrocities that do not make the news. Speak up for everyone affected.

Silence does nothing, in this case. We will need to speak.

[Steli Efti]

Tiara,

I appreciate your words.

I am a fighter just as I can feel that you are one. More then anything else I do believe in the power of words. But in certain areas words are exactly what you expect and that´s the reason why their effect is heavily diminished.

If the blogosphere would write united tomorrow about this tragedy and speak up. As all the media will do. As we expect them and want them to do. I doubt that this would have any huge effect.

But if all the bloggers in the world would be silent. And if all media would be silent for a whole day.
A day where you can´t read the newest information, see the latest pictures, hear the latest buzz about this tragedy - a day where you are left alone with your thoughts and the only way to deal with them is to talk to other people around you - I believe this could have far more power then anything else.

It´s the power of symbols that can change the word. And it´s the people that can give a symbolic day like this power.

I do not know if we can make this happen - it will depend upon if people believe that it can be done.

I do believe.

And that´s all I can do.

[florence meichel]

Hello Steli

I'm chocked too ! but i'm not surprised ! It's no accident that this event happens in a university : it's very symbolic ! It's maybe another 11 september !

Remember what i wrote on your blog e few days ago : "I think that public school, unfortunately, are becomed more power areas than learning areas : adults want to keep control on young people...a lot of teachers don't care about their students growing ! Their only goals are their own career and comfort : it's generating a lot of frustations and violence : we're all responsable of this situation..."

but we have the power to change it too !

WE HAVE TO CHANGE IT !

Silence is the first step but not the last !

Much power and love to you Steli !

[Tisha]

Mind-numbing how humanity can be so beautiful and hideous all in one!

I do believe that silence giving us time to reflect in two weeks time is the best thing...we are already busy mulling it over, talking, sharing and so after that we need to REFLECT and then take action.

Thanks Steli

[Steli Efti]

florence:

Yes I remember it very well!
I think alot about the conecpt of idea viruses right now and that it is frightening how even evil ideas spread.

I think it was the Columbine High School massacre that started this idea virus that gives now students a new alternative to deal with their problems in a very distructive way.

On the other hand I feel hope and believe that good ideas spread wider and with more impact & power then bad ones.

And that´s one reason why we started this initiative.

Let´s spread love, power and respect through all the blogosphere and beyond...

Great to have you with us florence :) Much power to you! Steli

[Steli Efti]

Tisha:

That´s exactly how I feel. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and for being such a great person!

Much power!
Steli

[Joomlord]

We please to express the sympathy with you, who are the victims of Virginia.
This massacre is a terrible crime. Please accept my most sincere condolences.

Joomlord team

[Steli Efti]

Joomlord,

thank you for your nice words. I hope that the power and love that people feel all around the world for the ones who lost their loved ones will help a bit in this darkest hours.

Much power!
Steli

[Mihaela Lica]

Steli, you are a wonderful person and we have a lot to learn from you.

Tiara, you are right, we should speak up. But what are we going to say? Every time people turn against people nothing good comes out. In this vast blogosphere the voice of one man can make a difference, if it is loud enough. The echo will reverberate from one blog to another. The readers will know and feel as well. Thousands of hearts will beat the same, maybe just for a few minutes. That’s how a few blogs will make a difference! I have at least 50 unique readers each day. Other bloggers have thousands! The message will reach its target. But again: what are we going to say?

The silence is the respect for the dead. It’s tradition everywhere in the world. One day blog silence is to honor the victims. This is the purpose.

What we say before, what we say after… are different things.

I said what I had to say and I will continue to say: we need to find the cause. We need one answer before going further: the answer to “why”.

[Laura]

Stelli,

I am going to participate. I have a question. On April 30th, do we not post anything at all? Or, do we just post the graphic and nothing else to make it clear why there is nothing there?

Anyway, I posted on this today.

[Mister EDgAr [h.]]

hear me, I beg!

Some people are trying to make you believe that we should all observe one day of silence, no blogging and entire day because of what happened in Virginia. Even if the cause seems to sound noble I have to urge the the people of the cyberworld to walk away from this and not let yourselves be deceived by those people.

Silence is already present in our daily life. People don't talk to each other, we are, most of us afraid of showing our feelings to the world around us. People don't talk about mental disease, it's just not something you can talk about neither do people talk about suicide!

I urge you to, not add an other day of silence in your life. Silence is easy, talking is hard. You want to pay your respect to the victims of Virginia? the victims of violence all around the world? I beg you, don't go running to the easy option, one that will not, in no way at all, make this kind of violence drop.

On April 30th 2007 I beg of you, for once in your life, TALK about it!

[Mister EDgAr [h.]]

I'm sorry but this is annoying me so much! Silence can't say more then a thousand word. Silence is just that, silence! Silence is what people do everyday. Nothing can get solve without communication.

Yes people will talk about what happened in Virginia but they will talk about what was on the news, missing the real subject of discussion.

People talk but say so little.

You want to do something [honest and not lazy] to pay respect to the victims of Virginia, to the victims of violence all around the world? Talk about it!

Talk about the real issue at hand. It's not the easiest thing to do, people will walk away but silence bring nothing!

Talk about mental disease. Talk about suicide. Talk about break downs. But please TALK!!

[Steli Efti]

Mihaela,

it´s times like these where people are fast in making up their minds & shouting for solutions without reflecting about what it is really all about.

I don´t know the answer to the questions "why".
But I do know that if you don´t like the shade - cutting the branches will do only good for little while. You do have to go to the root of the problem and cut it right there.

Our prayers are with those who lost the hardest thing to loose - the people they love.

[Steli Efti]

Laura:

thank you for your support. You can do it the way it feels the best for you.

I personally will post the graphic to show that this blog will take part on this event and everyone who sees it has a chance to use this day to think about what happened.

It´s great to have you with us. Much power!

[Camille Jolicoeur]

I would like to submit another point of vue. I do not use to argue and I have deap respect for your cry to condamn violence.

To me, silence is the approval of this bloddy act because we would feel responsible for it.

These shamefull acts can happen because we always beleive they would neve happen in our cozy environment. This way of false security explains why we never react to cease violence and hide instead of blocking violent actions.

I would proudly have a week of silence for americans who crashed an airplane on September 11, instead of letting terrorists kill mainy more humans.

Yes we cannot remain silent and help humans to defend themselves without developping more violence. Fear of violence is as negative of violence itself but we should never accept the propagation of violence.

I'm not use to express fluently in English, but I'm sure that we must remain silent to stop violence.

[Mister EDgAr [h.]]

"where can I sign up for your initiative?"

Why the need to belong to a group? This 2007, the years of web2.0 right? You have to belong to think. You have to be approved for what you "will" be believing. You have to show the world what you believe in, right? So the entire world can see how much of a good person you are, right?

"do you believe that the blogosphere would be writing till 30 April about this event?"

Let me reassure you, people will still be talking about this! people are still talking about the disaster in New Orland. People are still talking about Columbine. People are even talking about Waco and people will still be talking about this in a year, in two year and so on.

"It´s easy to be against something"

You think so don't you? When everyone in the world think something is the right thing to think or to do, you think that it is easy to be against it? You really do? It takes a lot more courage to go against the flow then to let yourself be carried by it!

And let me advise you on something, if, for you, not posting on your blog, just for a day, is a hard thing to do, indeed you should take this day off but never mind about Virginia, spend that day thinking about the life you don't have.

"What are you for?"

Can't you read? I'm against silence! I'm against taking the easiest way out. I'm against the ignorance and the uneducation of the masses.

"Do you believe that because you hold a moment of silence - you are forever silent?"

The masses are already in a perpetual moment of silence what they need to do is to learn how to talk to each other, to interact with each other. Talking about what you saw in the news, about how horrible you find this event is beside the point! The issue at hand is suicide, is mental disease, is the inability to fit in a society of zombies and people who care only about one thing, their own well being even if, to get it, they'll have to step on someone else well being.

"If I learn one thing from such tragedies"

You, my friend, are a great figure of what I am against. Take a second to think about what you've just said. Think about it. Do you really think that before Virginia there was no violence in the world? Just like the masses you only react once something slap you in the face but most of the time the slap comes too late so people like you run around like crazy going nowhere, not knowing what to do because you never did anything! Violence won't be put to an end in front of your computer! The revolution won't be televise! That doesn't right a bell, right? Figures!

You want to sign up to my belief? you want people to see what you are for, right? you need some little widget to put on your blog, right?

To join this revolution you will first need to shut down your computer, put your coat on, walk out and actually do something! You want to join something, why not join your local community environment\homeless\suicide-line\.. center.

You and so many people like you need to log off but I know it won't happen. There is no blog widget in real life! There is no one commenting the last smart thing you wrote..

[Steli Efti]

Camille,

thank you for bringing a new point to this discussion. Your support is really appreciated

Mister EDgAr,

sad that you see me and the idea like this. I wish you much power!

Steli

[cbkr11]

I respect all the opinions.
Mine is I accept your invitation and added the link for no post on April 30th.
Love

[Rob Robinson]

Steli, what a noble and beautiful idea. Thank you.

[Steli Efti]

Thank you all for your participation in this discussion - and I do mean ALL of you :)

No matter what you think and what your opinion is.

So thank you cbkr11 for making us once more aware of how important tolerance is!

NOTE: I had to delete for the first time every a comment on this blog. If people don´t have to say anything else then delivering a message of hate - I won´t tolerant that! Other then this every message no matter if you like the idea or not is welcomed! But please stay on topic :) Much love! Steli

[Steli Efti]

Rob,

I appreciate your kind words and support! All of you make this beautiful. And I have to thank you for that.

[Mihaela Lica]

:) I'll tell you something: cutting the branches will do you good, but what is it going to do to the tree? Think about it.

That “why” I was talking about is the root you refer to. The cause. But you cannot “cut”. The “cut” is a violent act. In order not to generate more violence you need to “heal”.

[Steli Efti]

:) hehe...yeah! You are right Mihaela :)

[Mister EDgAR [H.]]

Open question to all, but first..

I want to make myself clear, I actually have nothing against people taking a day of silence, it's very cute and I understand that people are lost and need to be told what is the right thing to do and what will most people do so you can know what you will be doing. What I am frustrated about is that all of those same people claiming that they feel the sorrow brought by this tragedy won't do more then that. Won't take actions won't write a letter to their congressman pleading to make fire arms less accessible..

Now on with the question, after this day of silence, once May 1st gets here and you go back to your self centered and no one else in the world matter, except for TV of course, life, while you wait for the next shooting on CNN and prepare yourself for the next day of silence, what will you actually do? How will you be able to look at the victims while thinking that you did absolutely nothing to help prevent this kind of horror from happening again?

I know, I know finding excuse not to do something is so much easier then atually doing something.. Just, stop thinking about it and, for crying out loud, do something!.. In real life I mean!

[Camille Jolicoeur]

Being canadian does not means that we do not feel the tings like americans! We are angry about these violent acts and we beleive thay the important lesson to keep in mind is that humans must take care of other humans and not be afraid to sacrifying there life for it!