As I reflected on the tragedy at Virginia Tech (where I taught as an adjunct professor for a

couple of years) and prayed for all affected, I remembered some words of wisdom by CS
Lewis (transcribed below) about our feeble attempt to understand such disaster and the
world around us. May we all be ready to play well our parts, even in such cases, when
the right move could definitely cost one’s life.

"No one looking at world history without some preconception in favor of progress could
find in it a steady up gradient. There is often progress within a given field over a limited
period. - - - If this process could spread to all departments of life and continue
indefinitely, there would be "Progress" - - - But it never seems to do so. Either it is
interrupted by barbarian irruption or else, more mysteriously, it decays. - - - the idea of
the world slowly ripening to perfection, is a myth, not a generalization from experience.
And it is a myth which distracts us from our real duties and our real interest. It is our
attempt to guess the plot of a drama in which we are the characters. But how can the
characters in a play guess the plot? We are not the playwright, we are not the producer,
we are not even the audience. We are on the stage. To play well the scenes in which we
are "on" concerns us much more than to guess about the scenes that follow it.

In King Lear there is a man who is such a minor character that Shakespeare has not given
him even a name: he is merely "First Servant." All the characters around him—Regan,
Cornwall, and Edmund—have fine long-term plans. They think they know how the story
is going to end, and they are quite wrong. The servant has no such delusions. He has no
notion how the play is going to go. But he understands the present scene. He sees an
abomination (the blinding of old Gloucester) taking place. He will not stand it. His sword
is out and pointed at his master's breast in a moment: then Regan stabs him dead from
behind. That is his whole part: eight lines all told. But if it were real life and not a
play, that is the part it would be best to have acted."

What a sad day, what a non-sense - but this will not stop Virginia Tech in pursuing
knowledge:

" - - - it is important to try to see the present calamity in a true perspective, [this tragedy]
creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the permanent human situation
so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has always been lived on the edge of a
precipice. Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something
infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and
beauty until they were secure the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when
we compare [calamities such this one] with "normal life". Life has never been normal.
Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities
until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But
humanity long ago chose to neglect those plausible reasons. They wanted knowledge and
beauty now, and would not wait for the suitable moment that never come. The insects
have chosen a different line: they have sought first the material welfare and security of
the hive, and presumable they have their reward. Men are different. They propound
mathematical theorems in beleaguered cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in
condemned cells, make jokes on scaffold, discuss, the last new poem while advancing to
the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache; it is our
nature."

My heart cries for those who died in this different war front (they did their best), my
prayers go their family and friends. My mind, though, assures me that Virginia Tech will
overcome this sad moment in its history – and the search for knowledge will go on. The
education wonder never ends.

Paulo