Having promised multiple times that he’d get to the shootings, the imam ultimately kept his word.  When he did, though, I was surprised by his brevity.

  The essence of what he had to say was that, as always, the individual behind this monstrous act would turn out to have done it mainly for the attention.  The appropriate response was therefore not to give it to him.  If anyone had pictures of the attacks, the imam urged them not to share these.  In fact, they should delete them from their own phones or computers.

His overarching message:  overwhelm bad with good.  Don’t get distracted by the crazy things that go on in this world.  Keep working at the activities that generate good.

At this point, it was time for the concluding round of prayers.  I knew from past experience that these involved a variety of actions in quick succession, including forms of sitting, kneeling, and prostration that my knees really aren’t suited to.   

As we all stood, a man in the row just in front of me moved aside, and with a welcoming gesture, offered me a space alongside him.  I thanked him, but explained that I had knee problems.

He replied that what I should do then was take a seat among a small number of folding chairs that had been set aside.   I told him I didn’t want to take up a seat when there were only a few of them, and other people undoubtedly needed them more than I did.  I’d be fine standing in the very back. 

He pointed out that there were still a number of empty seats.  Seeing that he was right, I went over and, somewhat sheepishly, took one of them. 

I was soon glad that I did.  Being in close to everyone else, I was able to participate in ways that I felt comfortable doing, rather than simply observing everything from a distance.  Like the other guys around me, I never knelt or did a full-on prostration, but I could at least sit in a chair and lean far forward as they did, and stand when they did, and most important of all, participate in and experience the shared energy of the group—which turned out to be considerable.

As we went through a series of prayers and their accompanying physical positions, I had a strong feeling that at that moment, everyone one in the room was focused on being the best person they could be.

By the prayers’ end, a palpable feeling of warmth and positive connectedness filled the room, as people shook hands with those near them.  I’d been in church services where the attendees were urged by their clergy to do something similar, but these attempts had always seemed awkward and contrived.  Here, the handshakes felt sincere and entirely natural. 

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