Purdue News
Purdue News
"We stand here this evening numbed by the tragedy and confused by the mystery of death," Beering said. "The weapons we bring against this great power -- our own poor words and the comfort we can offer one another -- seem woefully inadequate.
"The incidents of Friday, September 12, 1997, will never leave the memory of anyone who was at Purdue six days ago.
"They are all the more difficult to comprehend because they happened here. This university is a place of joy. Of dreams fulfilled, of potential realized. How can the opposite of all that take place here? Nathan, Julie, Tony, and Jeremy came to us full of bright promise and generous spirit. They brought joy to others through the way they lived their lives. A future full of accomplishment and service to others seemed assured for each of them. And so we stand here, looking for answers and waiting for the grief to relax its grip on our minds and hearts.
"Purdue is a busy place. Every day 50,000 people come and go on the campus, each of us with our own goals, our own problems, our own set of distractions. But the loss of a loved one reminds us that we are still a family. We don't always take the time to express the love and care or to appreciate one another, but every once in a while we realize how much we all share -- as families, as friends, as a university community, and as fellow travelers on this tiny portion of the universe that has been blessed with the miracle of life.
"I would not presume to try to understand or explain why these beautiful young people have been taken from us. As a father, I can offer nothing more than my heartfelt sympathy to the parents, families and friends of Nathan, Julie, Tony, and Jeremy.
"But I have seen enough of tragedy to know that healing does come with time, that the strength to build new dreams dwells within us, that life -- like death -- is a great mystery, and we must pursue it, no matter what.
"For a time that seems to us all too short, we were given the gift of these four lives. Now we must deal with their loss. Former President Jimmy Carter, in his book Living Faith, wrote: 'We can face death with fear, anguish, self torment and unnecessary stress . . . or through faith in the promises of God, we can confront the inevitable with courage, equanimity, good humor and peace.'
"That seems like a difficult assignment right now, but I believe it is what Nathan, Julie, Tony, and Jeremy would want us to do.
"I will leave you with these words from the Book of Revelation: 'God shall wipe away all their tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.'"
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
