


A "moment of silence" doesn't mean much unless *everyone*
participates.  Otherwise it's not silent, now is it?

Non-religious reasons for having a "moment of silence" for a dead
classmate: (1) to comfort the friends by showing respect to the
deceased , (2) to give the classmates a moment to grieve together, (3)
to give the friends a moment to remember their classmate *in the
context of the school*, (4) to deal with the fact that the classmate
is gone so that it's not disruptive later.

Blindly opposing everything with a flavor of religion in it is
utterly idiotic.
