As you have probably noticed by now, we normally go casual on Fridays with a quirky, tongue-in-cheek “Darts and Laurels” summing up the best and worst of the week. But on Thursday night, the Alligator staff was in no mood to chide silliness and applaud reason. Anything we could have written in this space feels trivial compared to what dominated Florida State University students’ thoughts, prayers and social media newsfeeds in the past 24 hours.
This tragedy falls uncannily close to Thanksgiving, when we should be grateful for many things — particularly that no innocent lives were taken. There has been one death: the gunman, who exchanged gunfire with police and was fatally shot just outside Strozier Library. As of Thursday night, there were three victims: one released from the hospital, one in stable condition and another in critical condition. We hope that all victims — and students who were in the library that night — recover physically, emotionally and mentally.
The photos, videos and social media posts from early Thursday morning out of Tallahassee are chilling, with uneasy announcements over the intercom asking students to call 911 if they or someone they know is wounded. Names scribbled on white boards to let parents know their children are alive. Text messages alerting parents of a gunman in the building before any news alert was blasted.
We all remember Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook and Santa Monica College. All schools smeared with connotation after deranged gunmen entered peaceful areas designated for education and opened fire. We’ve read about these events, shared articles online and watched them unfold from a safe distance.
Just 149 miles away from Library West, Strozier Library at FSU was too close to home.
We are not immune to tragedy. We are not immortal. By chance, the gunman happened to pick FSU. We will never truly know his motives.
And we will never know when it could happen here.
Aggregated social media posts from Yik Yak, Twitter and Facebook that were published on Buzzfeed, Gamedayr and other online media outlets mentioned how UF students stand with FSU “despite” their age-old rivalry. We want to make this clear: Bringing up the rivalry or any past history between the two schools is immature and irrelevant. While orange and blue run deep in our veins, we must rise above pettiness for the sake of solidarity.
FSU is called home by many of our siblings, our significant others and our friends. Even if you know no one attending FSU, they are Floridians. They are peers before they are rivals. Any and all support for them should be unconditional.
We’re comfortable to say we speak for The Gator Nation when we say we wholeheartedly send our thoughts, prayers and support to The Nole Nation. To FSU students: Warriors by name, you are all brave, and we applaud you for responding to hardship with grace, sensitivity and unity. We know you are all strong enough to stand alone in the healing process, but know that we stand with you.
We will grant one laurel this week: A #FSUnited LAUREL goes to the FSU community.
