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[April 23] Vox Populi: President Bush has to award a medal
to Hero Liviu Librescu!
romanian-gymnastics.com
 WASHINGTON
/ As the storm raised last week by the heroic gesture of the
Romanian born Liviu Librescu has lowed a little, people has
started asking, all over the Internet: What honor should
Liviu Librescu receive? Why US didn't gave
him (yet) a Medal? Vox Populi (People Voice) over the
web says: US President Bush has to award a Medal
to Romanian born Hero Liviu Librescu!
Photo:
US Presidential Medal of Freedom
On the democraticunderground.com
forum , "piedmond" wrote: "This
man led an exemplary life, and gave it up in valorous defense
of his students. We owe it to ourselves and our children to
hold him up as an example of the ideals we believe in. Please
write your congressional representatives and ask that they
cosponsor legislation for bestowing this honor on him."
The only question remaining is: should the Medal
be the Presidential medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold
Medal or...both? "I wonder if anyone has ever been
honored with both" asked rhetorically "piedmond"
on same forum;
"That's reserved for colossal failures, until 2009
at least.", Answered ironically "BurtWorm".
The White House has confirmed for romanian-gymnastics.com
last Saturday that our message for President Bush has arrived
at the White House:" On behalf of President Bush,
thank you for your correspondence. We appreciate hearing your
views and welcome your suggestions. [...] Thank you again
for taking the time to write."
The message was:
Dear Mr President,
We would like to recommend that Professor Liviu Librescu be
considered for a Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition
of his heroic efforts to protect his students while teaching
at Virginia Tech.
He sacrificed his own life using his own body to barricade
the entrance to his classroom from the gunman. This brave
Romanian born Americano-Israeli, so cognizant of the value
of life, chose to place himself in harm's way so that his
young charges might have a chance to escape.
Despite the political turmoil going on right now in Romania,
this country has already honored Liviu Librescu with their
highest award he could be given, The Star of Romania!
You may consider that United States, for which he scarified
his live, owes Him that little.
Thank you for your time. God Bless America!
Need (some) evidence for Professor Liviu Librescu's
Heroic gesture? "A series of shots rang out from an adjoining
classroom, followed by screams. Prof. Librescu rushed to the
door and held it shut. His engineering students dived for
cover behind their desks."
In a letter addressed to Prof. Librescu's wife
Marlena, one student described how he climbed out the window,
but paused on the ledge to look back. "I saw your husband
still standing there. He was holding the door closed and looking
over his shoulder to make sure everybody else was safe. It
was the bravest thing I have ever seen and I will always remember
his courage," the student wrote.
Another simply wrote: "I think he
saved my life." Prof. Librescu was fatally shot, and
died on his classroom floor. But by the time the gunman managed
to get inside, most of his students had escaped to safety."
(The
Globe and Mail)
The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest
civilian award which may be bestowed by the United States
Congress, the legislative branch of the United States government.
The decoration is awarded to "any individual who
performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security,
prosperity, and national interest of the United States."
As Jews worldwide honored on Monday
the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust, a
76-year-old survivor sacrificed his life to save his students
in Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech College that left 33
dead and over two dozen wounded.
Romanian born Professor Liviu Librescu,
76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the man attempted
to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering
lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived -
because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an
Israeli - told Army Radio. Several of Librescu's other students
sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he had blocked
the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son,
Joe. "My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked
the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview
from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening
windows and jumping out."
An online Petition
was initiated "To Honor Professor Liviu Librescu with
the President Medal of Freedom" because "He showed
a love and caring for his students above and beyond that of
a normal teacher. Professor Librescu is the example of the
Bible verse "Greater love that no man that he lay down his
life for another." His sacrifice was sacrifice "of
a true hero, whom embodies the American and Israeli spirit."
A second petition call for "Presidential
Medal of Freedom for Professor Liviu Lebrescu"
because "His selfless actions saved many lives.
He is the true definition of a hero and the nation should
remember that as his legacy."
Another idea, a letter to your US representative,
this time for the Congressional Gold Medal, came from 'Behind
the Aegis':
Dear Sir or Madam:
On April 16, 2007, amidst the great tragedy of Virginia Tech
murders, a man emerged as a hero. His actions, according to
his own students, saved their lives and cost him his own.
This man was Dr. Liviu Librescu. A professor at VA Tech for
several years, Dr. Librescu began his life in Romania and
within a short few years of life became a survivor of one
of the greatest genocide of the 20th Century, the Holocaust.
Dr. Librescu survived to become an accomplished professor
and, once again, survived under yet another bloodthirsty dictator.
He then moved to Israel for several years, before coming to
the United States some twenty years ago to educate young minds
at Virginia Tech. The Yom Hashanah, a day set aside to remember
the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, was also on April
16, 2007. It was that day, that a Holocaust survivor, Dr.
Liviu Librescu, sacrificed his own life by using his body
to barricade the door to his classroom, preventing a gunman
from entering, and allowing his students to flee through the
windows. The day a murder took the lives of thirty-two innocent
individuals, including Dr. Liviu Librescu, he became a hero.
This dedicated educator, accomplished author, award winner,
Holocaust survivor, husband, and father died so that others
may live. I ask that you and your colleagues introduce legislation
to confer the Congressional Gold Medal upon Dr. Liviu Librescu.
He was in life, as in death, an example of a true hero. I
hope you will agree with me and bestow our country’s highest
honors on a truly inspirational, deserving, and heroic man.
Romania was the first to award
to Liviu Librescu's widow, last week, the Highest Romanian
Honor: The Star of Romania medal which only a handful of people
received by now.
Photo:
Romania has awarded the late professor its highest honour,
The Star of Romania!
This recognition gesture was made in just few hours from presenting
the petition to the Romanian President Basescu. In three hours
or so, the Decree was signed and a Presidential envoyee sent
to Israel to deliver the Medal during the funerals. That's
efficiency and highest respect...on time! (a World Record
in a democracy? pretty close to one!) The presidential
representative attended Liviu Librescu's funeral in Ra'anana
on Friday. Romanian officials laid a wreath at the grave.
Other (yet ignored) US Heroes may come on the
line for a medal, too. As revealed in NewsMax.com, that was
proven in Pearl, Miss., in 1997, when 16-year-old Luke Woodham
used a hunting rifle to kill his ex-girlfriend and her close
friend, and wound seven other students after having killed
his own mother. His murder spree was stopped only when Assistant
Principal Joel Myrick got his handgun from his car and halted
Woodham¹s shooting spree. He kept Woodham at bay until the
police arrived. While the shooting was widely reported, the
fact that Myrick — an armed citizen — prevented a larger massacre
with his gun was ignored by the media.
During 2004, the Presidential Medal of Honor
was awarded to: Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley,
actress Doris Day, golfer Arnold Palmer, politician Edward
Brooke, historian Vartan Gregorian, National Geographic Society
Chairman Gilbert Grosvenor, cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder,
actress Rita Moreno, ophthalmology researcher Arnall Patz,
journalist Norman Podhoretz economist and banker Walter Wriston.
"He'd be in very poor company indeed..."says
'The Cunt'
"Oh, so Bush has run out of them?"
says Deep13; let's hope not.
By the way, two more questions: why
Israel didn't (bothered to) organized State Funerals, as an
Hero deserve? I bet His native country, Romania, would did
this for Him! (they send him at once the Highest Honor, so...);
and, of course, Israel...where is the Medal?
Related stories:
Video:
Bush
about Liviu Librescu (go to min 2'40")
[April 19] Liviu
Librescu, The Hero. Everybody's Hero
[April
18] Romanian
born Hero Liviu Librescu received Highest Award
[April 18] President
Bush spoke about Romanian born Hero Liviu Librescu
Note for Romanian gymnastics fans: due to recent tragic
events we had used (almost all) our resources for this ongoing
event; hopefully tomorrow will resume our gym stories updates
with some very interesting commentaries and exclusive news.
Romanian Gymnastics News Archive.
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