Although 8,000 miles away, last week's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, reverberated as far as the Chapel steps Thursday night.
Bearing candles and sitting in a tight semicircle, approximately 100 people of all faiths and races gathered for a vigil on the Chapel lawn to share personal stories of loss.
"Everything that those terrorists did was to show us all that is ugly in the world," said Tariq Mohideen, a senior and a Chronicle columnist who came to mourn the loss of a close family friend in the attack. "But Sam lived his life to the fullest and to do what is good.... We owe it to [the victims] to live our lives the best way that we can."
Armed with AK-47s and hand grenades, 10 Muslim assailants laid siege to the economic and entertainment epicenter of India for longer than 60 hours starting last Wednesday, taking more than 170 victims in the city's luxury hotels and tourist attractions, including the five-star Taj Mahal Hotel and an orthodox Jewish center.
Although India has been the site of attacks from religious fundamentalists in the past, this particular act of terror has captivated the world because of its scale.
"I haven't been able to cry about it because I've been so far away," said senior Sarah Sham, who grew up in Mumbai and helped organize the vigil. "A beautiful city was ripped apart. It's like 9/11 happened to all of our favorite places."
Though fingerpointing between India and Pakistan has dominated the headlines in the aftermath of the attacks, the overriding themes of Thursday evening were unity over divisiveness and hope over despair.
"It is pain after pain for Muslims, these acts of terror," said Muslim chaplain Abdullah Antepli. "This act of violence, this act of aggression is not towards [Mumbai], not towards India, but towards all of humanity and should be condemned in the strongest terms possible."
Catholic and Jewish leaders expressed hope that the different faith communities could come together in mutual mourning despite the old wounds opened by the attacks.
"This is really a universal pain," said Rabbi Michael Goldman, the rabbi for Jewish Life at Duke. "If there's an essential difference between 'us' and 'them,' it's not us Jews versus them Muslims.... If there is an essential difference between us and them, it's what do we do with our rage, with our anger. And also what to we do with our compassion?"
The Jewish community particularly felt the death of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28, who were in Mumbai operating an outpost of the Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch movement when they were killed. Their two-year-old son was rescued from the assault. Their story has incited international outpourings of sympathy and support.
"The terrorists turned a city that was bright and light into one that was filled with death," Rabbi Zalman Bluming, executive director of Chabad at Duke, said in an interview. "My hope is that future generations will not have to grow up in the same world filled with hatred that that child grew up in. I believe with every fiber of my being that goodness is far more powerful than this carnage and evil."
Participants in the vigil also took time to pay homage to the city that many in the congregation knew and cherished, praising Mumbai for its valiant efforts to both combat future violence and recover from the tragedy.
"What I really loved about [Mumbai] was the intimacy of the city, despite its size, and its resilience," said senior Preeyanka Shah, recounting the story of a compassionate taxi driver who helped her find her way home during a strike on a recent visit. "It's one of the most amazing cities in the world because of these interactions. I think we should keep in mind that [Mumbai] is going to bounce back from this."
Some, however, questioned how much a vigil could proactively combat the types of terror perpetrated by the attackers.
"Unless we do something about the situation, we will spend our whole life lighting candles," said a student who chose not to identify himself.
Yet most in the crowd said they believed that the show of solidarity was cathartic and of great value to the Duke community.
"Sure, lighting a candle may seem silly but we're all coming together and that's what's important, and one day, maybe some concrete change will come from that," Sham said after the event.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.