Silence is a powerful entity, holding much and giving freely to those who listen, yet offering nothing to those who do not seek.  To stand a moment in the silence of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery is an opportunity to look back on your own past, where you stand now, and where you are going in life. Further, it offers a chance to reflect on how the University and town of Chapel Hill have evolved into what it is today, and how the contributions of the cemetery’s residents have shaped our own daily lives.

            A moment of silence is used throughout the world as a chance to reflect, create new connections with the past and present, and possibly see new paths into the future. This is a silence of inner contemplation and activity, yet it is also silence that may keep the present from evolving into something richer and more complete within our understanding of history and society itself. To hold in silence what one knows to be a truth against the current known truths is to hold back a voice full of possibilities for the future, to remain in unnecessary ignorance. Yet the strength needed to overcome these silences is tremendous, and recent efforts on campus have exhibited an enormous amount of positive energy towards breaking the silence of the past. 

            The new Unsung Founders memorial on McCorkle Place, the Stone Center, the University black history tour, and a new plaque commemorating those buried in the cemetery’s western end are all results of actions taken to break the silence of ignorance, and to preserve the silence within which we may contemplate further progression in our own lives and in the history of Carolina.