Tossing Pebbles in the Stream

Virginia Tech Revisited

I wasn't going to mention anything more about the tragedy at Virginia Tech BUT, something has impressed me. Virtually, all the teachers who were killed made heroic efforts to protect their students rather than try to save themselves. This speaks well of these teachers and teachers in general. Teachers have a special relationship to their students. It is more than a commercial relationship of a consumer and a distributer of a service, (sharing of knowledge). It is almost a parental relationship. Teaching is such an honourable calling that can never be recognized enough as an essential part of our shared community. The french teacher, Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was the only Canadian killed. Her heroism has been acknowleged by a couple of her class who survived. She apparently was a much beloved teacher for which she had a passion. Her other great interest was gardening and enjoyed being in a more southernly horticultural zone, where she could pursue her gardening interest while teaching french. She is the mother of two girls. Victim from Quebec was 'proud Canadian, dedicated to French'