Thoughts for My Classmates

The first I knew of the deaths of seven college students _ six from the University of South Carolina and one from Clemson University _ came late Monday when my wife Elizabeth, son Thomas and I emerged from the U.S. Customs gallery in the Philadelphia airport. We were returning from Paris, where we had attended the wedding of a long-time friend. It was a happy event, and we still felt the glow as we were returning home.

Thomas, a graduate student at USC, clicked on his cell phone and began checking his e-mail messages. "Here's an e-mail from Dr. Sorensen, something about six students being killed in a house fire," he said. It was a chilling reminder that life is fragile and that we should appreciate every good day we have on this earth.

On Tuesday morning, I returned to Dr. Edgar's class. He first huddled with the two women wearing Delta Delta Delta shirts _ members of the sorority that lost other members in the tragic Ocean Isle fire on Sunday _ then announced to the class that there would be a period when students could express their feelings about the deaths. It was an entirely appropriate gesture on a campus where collective grief may have reached a new high. USC is not a stranger to losing students. Just a few weeks ago, a student fell from a residence hall window and died from his injuries. He had graduated from J.L. Mann High School in Greenville just last spring. Ironically, several of the students who died in the fire also came from J.L. Mann High School. Tragedy has come in waves this year, for J.L. Mann and USC.

Tuesday's lecture was about the Revolutionary War. Dr. Edgar showed a snippet from the Mel Gibson movie "The Patriot," and asked the class whether they thought it was an accurate representation of history. He pointed out several of the obvious bits of Hollywood's liberties with the past. One student pointed out that the depiction of African Americans in the movie as free persons working willingly on the plantation stretched credibility to the breaking point. But most of the discussion focused upon the depiction of violence in the film. In one particularly bloody scene, Gibson's character hacks a dead British soldier to pulp in revenge for the killing of Gibson's fictional son by a British officer. Some in the class thought the scene excessively violent. Edgar pointed out that there were many historical accounts of savage brutality, as supporters of the King fought rebels in what might be called Civil War No. 1. If anything, the movie's depiction of violence, revenge and brutality in the Revolution underplayed its real savagery.

Today's college students, many in middle school when the twin towers in New York City were destroyed by Osama bin Laden's fanatical followers, know they live in a dangerous world. Many know peers who have gone to war, and may even have had friends wounded or killed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Parents hope university campuses will be a safe haven for their fledgling adult children when they send them off to college. But Sunday's fire at Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, showed us all that tragedy can reach into  even those havens and snatch away those we love.

Life lessons and teaching moments can elude us at such moments. Those of us who have seen more of the dark side of life hope that this week's sad events will make our children and their friends a little more careful with their precious lives.