Carolina remembers Sept. 11

A milestone has passed, yet the weight of that day may never be lifted from our hearts. On Polk Place, some 6,000 members of the Carolina community gathered Sept. 11 to remember the tragic events of a year ago. They stood in silence and held hands as the South Building bell tolled six times in honor of the six alumni who perished on that fateful day last fall. "We will toll the bell for each of them and hold them in our hearts," said Chancellor James Moeser, standing on the South Building steps.
The American flag whipped in the wind at half-mast, surrounded by six wreaths. As the ceremony ended, people in the audience waited silently in line to pick a pebble from a basket and place it in a "spiral of life" around the flag. People knelt to place a total of 3,000 pebbles in the spiral, each one symbolizing one of the 3,000 who had vanished into the smoke and rubble. The day after Sept. 11 last year, some 10,000 had gathered in this same place to stand together in shock and in silence. A year later, the weight was still there. But as with the first gathering, the weight was made to feel lighter, if only for a few moments, by bearing it together rather than alone.

Click on the button below to see an animated album of the Sept. 11 convocation with photographs taken by Dan Sears, UNC News Services.

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