From the article in Fredericksburg.com:

At noon Friday, the University of Mary Washington will observe the statewide day of mourning declared by Gov. Timothy Kaine for the victims of the tragedy at Virginia Tech by creating a human “Chain of Hope” along Campus Walk starting at the bell tower. A moment of silence will be observed.

I just came back from this memorial. I need to say something.

At 11:55, I arrived at the site along with a colleague and a student. There was no chain of hope on the horizon that I could see. A sign pointed to an “admissions event.” A snackmobile was parked on the far sidewalk. People were walking back and forth, chatting under a bright warm sun.

I wondered if I had gotten the time or location wrong. To my left, I saw some women wearing orange clothing and orange ribbons. I asked one if I had come to the right place and time for the chain of hope. She said she thought so.

At 11:57, nothing had changed. People stood and milled about.

At 11:58, everything began to change.

At 11:59, a line had formed, stretching from the new bell tower as far as I could see down campus walk.

Then a woman said, “it’s noon, everyone.” Silence emerged from the sound of a second ago.

We stood holding hands in that silence. Photographers and videographers walked up and down, documenting the moment. We stood a long time. I sensed that none of us wanted to let go.

After what might have been five minutes, applause sounded all up and down the line, so that the chain need never break.

Something got to the core of me as I watched individual agency form itself into community in that minute between 11:58 and 11:59. I wish we could find and enact this affirmation every day, just because it is another day, and we are together.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil,
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed.