Narrative Trajectory: An End at Hand
Some researchers suggest that the major function of a president’s response to a perceived crisis is to redefine the situation in terms with which the public can understand or identify. The manner in which identification and redefinition occurs is often through “configuring the situation in terms of socially-sanctioned myths."[90] For President Steger, this involved invoking We Are Hokies. We are Virginia Tech. He worked into familiar ideas—Hokie identity, Hokie Nation, Virginia Tech Community—new associations: A will to prevail, to overcome, to mourn together, and to grow together.
President Steger had numerous opportunities to point fingers, to scapegoat, to lay blame. Instead he focused not on contention, but on community; not on attacking a viciously cynical press, but on expressing praiseworthy values; not on ripping further the torn fabric of the Hokie Nation, but on building unified visions of value. I think his success at doing this can be seen on many levels, but perhaps the sentiments are best expressed on this site developed so that Hokies could express their views about President Steger and the crisis.
http://www.wesupportvt.com
President Steger projects the closure for this narrative into the future. The story is not yet finished. The manner in which the narration is concluded acts to transfer the meaning and final closure of the narrative onto the future actions of members of the Virginia Tech family, or the larger Hokie Nation. Such a projection is weighty, and not with out risks. Hayden White has stressed the moral burden of this type of projection: “‘the weight of meaning’ of the events recounted is ‘thrown forward’ onto a future just beyond the immediate present," and in light of potential responses to the murders, onto “a future fraught with moral judgment. . . ."[91] President Steger set the tone throughout the tragedy; the responsibility for future action now resides with the Virginia Tech family.
 
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