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Crowd of 10,000 gathers to reflect

No words can make sense out of senseless evil, but on the steps of the South Building on Sept. 12, Chancellor James Moeser offered words of solace and solidarity and somber reflection.

"It is important that we do so, for we are here this noon in a moment of reflection and meditation to contemplate the tragic events that have confronted our nation, our world and our own community, to offer our support and consolation for those in grief and distress, and to gather strength from each other," Moeser said.

Moeser spoke under a cloudless blue sky, the same kind of sky that served as a backdrop as the World Trade Center twin towers crumbled from what is the most famous skyline in the world. The world will never be the same again, Moeser said, and in many ways neither can we.

"It has changed us in ways that we do not yet fully comprehend," Moeser said. "We are more vulnerable, less secure than we were the day before yesterday."

What must not change, Moeser said, is what we stand for as a nation and a people.

"We are here to provide comfort to each other, to reach out to those in our own University community who are suffering grief and loss -- either directly or indirectly -- and also to reaffirm our basic and fundamental values, which we all cherish as Americans," Moeser said.

"Our ability to be tolerant is brought to the greatest test when we ourselves are the subject of a vicious attack involving unsuspecting victims such as this one. It rocks the very foundations of our being as individuals and for all of us collectively as a society."

Moeser warned against jumping to conclusions about why this happened or who was responsible. "Let us be the kind of community that shuts no one out at a time when we all need each other."

Before noon, small groups of friends who had wandered in early were swallowed into a single mass of collective grieving stretching from the South Building steps to Murphey Hall.

Alone in the crowd, Michelle Neal, who heads interlibrary services, stood out against the students in shorts and T-shirts, dressed as she was in black. But she also wore a butterfly pin and silk scarf radiantly embellished with butterflies. For her, the butterflies symbolized hope, "the sign of new life in Christ when there is death."

The flowing black dress and the butterflies captured the whirl of emotions inside her. "I'm in terrific grief for the tremendous loss of life that has yet to be revealed," she said.

The flag flying at half-mast served as another tangible reminder of the reason for the gathering.

Everyone looked calm; a few shared hugs. The occasional drone of cicadas -- symbol of the transience of life in Japanese culture -- provided ambient noise behind the murmuring of the mostly student crowd of 10,000.

Before the service, overheard snatches of conversation revealed that everyone was there to think through the tragedy and to attempt to make some sense what will come next.

Sandra Void and Jane Teeter work in the dean's office in the School of Medicine, and their thoughts echoed common concern but different aspects of the crisis. Void said, "I would like to emphasize the need to be compassionate toward the victims, to think about their families." Teeter added, "I think we are going to have to be a little bit more observant and tenacious about getting information about other people. I worry about what the outcome's going to be."

Tal Black, who works in the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance System, and Rick Palmer, a consultant with the Center for Teaching & Learning, speculated as to the source of the attacks. Black said, "It would be hard not to conclude that Bin Laden's behind it, but with the sanctuary of who else? ... To me, if they are able to do this without reprisal, then they will do it again and again. I think that's part of the issue: If our reprisal out of necessity involves loss of life among people who are innocent, then the future loss of innocent life is unavoidable." Palmer said, "It's now the nature of the defense of these people to hide. Innocence has been lost. Our disengagement from the rest of the world is gone."

Even those sitting on the edges of the service -- on the steps of Wilson Library -- were rapt. Many sat in the long shadows cast by the ancient oaks. No one spoke. No one exchanged glances. A couple sat holding hands.

The only distractions were a couple of toddlers who were oblivious to the grief around them. Their student moms held them tightly.

And the thousands became one as they broke spontaneously into applause after Moeser said, "We must not respond to hate with more hate, to intolerance with more intolerance."

Moeser said his spirits were lifted the night of Sept. 11 by what he observed in Polk Place. Some 100 students, faculty and staff members who had gathered in the student union to talk through the day's events had moved outside to form a tight ring around the flag flying at half mast.

Some thought to pray.

Others cried.

And on that day, the chancellor asked the gathered crowd to leave in silence, and the thousands did, reaffirming the solemn note struck the night before.

And the silence said it all.

Transcripts online

See http://www.unc.edu/news/gaz/trans.html for links to transcripts of Chancellor James Moeser's remarks at the Sept. 12 Polk Place gathering as well as those of these other speakers:

* Justin Young, student body president;

* Richard Kohn, chair of the Curriculum in Peace, War and Defense;

* The Reverend Stephen Stanley, Chapel of the Cross campus minister;

* Raj Panjabi, co-president of the Campus Y.

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