Some things I'm thinking as I sit here thinking...

In the midst of this tragedy, I find myself trying to look on the brighter side of things. Granted, I'm two states away, no one I know was hurt or even attends Virginia Tech, but the non-stop coverage is starting to get to me.

It's times like these that I wonder if I have what it takes to be a journalist. If I was in the Virginia Tech newsroom, would I have been able to cover the story effectively? Would I have had the smarts to ask the right questions, to get the right information and then convey that effectively? I don't know.

I'm a newbie in this industry, so I'm not as hardened to the news and events like some vets are. When I saw the students speaking on what happened, it made me cry. When the one young man described how he pressed the table against the door to keep the gunman from coming into the classroom, he began to cry and I cried with him. I wanted to hug him. If I had been there, as a journalist, interviewing him, I probably would have.

Does that mean I lack the ability to detach myself from an emotional situation? Is that even necessary?

Whatever the case may be, I'm keeping the victims, their families and the students, faculty and staff at Virginia Tech in my prayers. I'm also keeping the shooter's family in my prayers also. I don't know how they are holding up, knowing what their son was responsible for. May God be with them all.