The group that gathered for a candlelight vigil Tuesday at Goucher College was small, but the emotions exuded were powerful.
A few spoke. Many just listened as the college chaplain, the Rev. Cynthia Terry, tried to make sense of the shootings that took 33 lives Monday, including the gunman, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va.
“In candlelight vigils, it?s very difficult to keep the candles lit,” said Terry. “That is a lot like hope. Sometimes it is difficult to keep lit. But even keeping one candle lit makes the darkness less dark.”
After tragedies, attendance at religious ceremonies generally increases.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, there were reports that attendance increased 25 percent. That was also true in Baltimore, said Sean Caine, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, who added that some area religious leaders held special memorials after the Virginia Tech tragedy.
But religious attendance isn?t the only sign of mourning.
“People will respond in their own unique ways,” said James Spivack, director of the counseling center at Towson University, where 350 attended a candlelight vigil for the victims Tuesday.
“Some will want to gather with friends. Other will want to return home to their parents. There isn?t any right way to respond to this.” One way some Towson students, faculty, and staff are responding is by writing well wishes on a large banner, which will be delivered to Virginia Tech, he said.
Those at Anne Arundel Community College donned orange and maroon, Virginia Tech?s colors, for a Hokie Day on Friday. That public support is part of the ongoing grieving process, some of which has been kept private by the students, said spokeswoman Linda Schulte.
“Students have a very high privacy code,” Schulte said of the student-arranged memorial service on campus. “I can tell you that faculty, staff and students [have been] very somber.” Carrie Burmaster, director of counseling at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, said university wide messages of support and invitations for counseling have been sent to students, many of which are Virginia Tech alumni.
Writing condolence notes to the community and sending them as a packet will likely occur, she said.
“This is the kind of tragedy where there is not such a need of physical resources,” Burmaster said. “We are reaching out on an emotional level.”
