School Meeting to Remember Tragedy

Photo by Michael Kiernan

The news of the shootings last week at Virginia Tech has been deeply felt by many students, some of whom have friends at the university facing very difficult days. So it was appropriate that we acknowledge the magnitude of this event and find time to come together as a community.

It will not surprise you that our students came forward, and together they volunteered to organize a special Morning Meeting. Seniors Emily Neilson and Marrayam Khera and uppermiddler Shanika Audige spoke powerfully about the meaning of community and how each of us can be catalyst for change and tolerance. Associate chaplain Rabbi Polokoff and I also addressed the community, suggesting ways in which we might minister to each other in the midst of tragedy, and emphasizing our solidarity with schools and universities throughout the country. Collegium Musicum concluded the service with a moving performance of "To My Old Brown Earth" (see lyrics below).

As we move forward into the weeks ahead, we remember the victims and and their families so deeply affected by the Virginia Tech shootings. They are in our thoughts and prayers. In the wake of events such as this, we give thanks for this special community where we gather together for fellowship, support, and comfort. In our different faiths, in our different beliefs, agnostics and atheists, Christians and Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, this school community from multiple perspectives from all over the world, this fabric of humanity must dwell in love.

In peace,

Rev. Michael Spencer
School Chaplain

To My Old Brown Earth            
Lyrics by Pete Seeger
            Paul Halley, Arranger

            To my old brown Earth
            And to my old blue sky,
            I’ll now give these last few molecules of “I”.
            And you who sing,
            And you who stand nearby,
            I do charge you not to cry.
            Guard well our human chain.
            Watch well you keep it strong,
            As long as sun will shine.
            And this our home,
            Keep pure and sweet and green.
            For now I’m yours
            And you are also mine.