Texas A

Texas A&M - Bonfire Remembrance 10th Anniversary


Good evening,
this was suppose to be a big Thanksgiving
week at Texas A&M, home of the Aggies,
and a historic football tradition
The Aggies were getting ready for their
annual game against the University of
Texas Longhorns and in the Lone Star
state
it just doesn't get any bigger
but tonight
Texas is in mourning
in College Station, a huge pile of logs
set up for the traditional bonfire collapsed.
At least eight students are dead. We're
getting ready for the big annual bonfire
at Texas A&M, they build and burn a
mammoth bonfire every year for the game
against the University of Texas
Tonight, they are still picking an enormous
pile of logs apart in the hope that maybe a
student under there is still alive.
The president of Texas A&M said today
they will be no bonfire this year,
the only other time it has been
cancelled since 1909
was when president Kennedy was murdered.
At 2:28 this morning, the bonfire stack fell.
It is a ninety year tradition in Texas A&M,
a bonfire preceding the Texas A&M
University of Texas football game.
More than seven thousand logs are piled up
nearly sixty feet high to make the
bonfire, but this year is the log
tower collapsed.
The spirit of this school is
absolutely unbelievable.
Determination to get on with life, I mean
this is a very special place with
a very special
heart, this community will recover
very fast, strong.
No matter how predictable, we think life is,
none of knows what the next hour might bring.
When they went to bed last evening
none of us thought that tonight
we would be consumed with the grief
that is now confronting all of us.
All of us cried as we watched our
loved ones being removed from the stacks of logs.
We prayed that all would be alive, but they were not.
We prayed that all of the injuries would be minor
but they were not. We prayed that our agony and our
grief would end quickly, but it has not.
Last night today,
we saw a community working together,
we can't stop this now
this is a time to renew our community
this is a time to show the world
that the spirit that can never be told
is alive and thriving.
We can't focus on the sorrow that
we're feeling now
But we must celebrate
the way in which these Aggies have lived.
We will remember them, as long as there
is a Texas A&M and the Aggie Spirit is alive.
And that my friends, is forever.
We have felt like since early that our role
with the University of Texas needs
to be to show our support but do it without
intruding because we need to be on the
outside to help you if you need help
because when the family has adversity
especially a family that's the strong as
Texas A&M,
that adversity brings that circle much
tighter
and makes you much stronger.
When I think of Aggie Bonfire,
I know what makes it so special
it's every single Aggie
that stands around it.
And there's a lot of Aggies standing
here tonight.
I think the one modification...
... the one modification
about this yell practice
is that the yell practice of hope
and a yell practice of strength
we have a challenge in each one of our lives
to look for hope and strength
and to move on and look at our future
after a tough time in a
tragic week here at Texas A&M.
And we'll never forget it.
That will never be forgotten.
This yell practice is not trying to
forget anything,
that will always be in our minds as
long as the spirit lasts here
at Texas A&M
It was just meant to be I think
the A&M family needed that win,
I think the players
were just so committed to it
turning out that way
They willed it, that it would
turn out that way,
and it was a fitting climax for
a week of real trial for
the A&M family.
As then student body president,
Matt Joseph he said at the ground breaking
of this memorial,
"We will once again,
be able to step into a circle of unity,
we will be able to journey down the path
in the footsteps of these rememberable students,
we will be able to see their faces
and witness the signatures
that they left on this place
We will have opened the doorway for
others to share on our grief
but also to attempt to understand
our spirit.
We will have etched a place
in the landscape of our campus
just as they have permanently etched
a place in the landscape of our hearts.
Today we remember
and celebrate the lives of twelve remarkable
people.


Waltz Across Texas with Ram | Chris Stapleton


When we dance together my world's in disguise
It's a fairyland tale that's come true
When you look at me girl with those stars
in your eyes
I could waltz across Texas with you.
Waltz across Texas with you in my arms
Waltz across Texas with you
Like a storybook ending I'm lost in your charms
And I could waltz across Texas with you.
My heartaches and troubles are just up and
gone
The moment you come into view
With your hand in mine dear I could dance
on and on
And waltz across Texas with you.
Waltz across Texas with you in my arms
Waltz across Texas with you
Like a storybook ending I'm lost in your charms
And I could waltz across Texas with you.