Yesterday, as classes resumed at Virginia Tech, students gathered around a display of thirty-three white prayer flags.

Thirty-three flags … one each for the thirty-three people who died the previous Monday at the hand of a lone gunman. One each for his thirty-two shooting victims … and one for him.

Thirty-three lives were lost. Thirty-three precious human lives were laid waste. All thirty-three people were remembered and grieved. It is a powerful witness that love can rise up over hate, that grace can rise up over bitterness.

Do not let evil defeat you; instead, conquer evil with good.