Ron Seibel: A day for highs, lows in Macon
It was a day when I woke up not knowing how I was going to feel.
Wednesday was going to be a total roller coaster in terms of emotion. It was going to be a day when I was going to be surrounded with the happiest of high school athletes, those whose hard work was going to be rewarded with a college scholarship. It was National Signing Day, and I was set to cover ceremonies at Stratford and Westside, two schools where football players were headed to Power 5 programs.
Closer to downtown, however, there were completely opposite feelings, that of sorrow, disbelief and the inability to grasp an event that still has yet to be fully explained.
The Telegraph's newsroom is on the Mercer campus, where it was hard to escape the lingering feelings that surrounded the shooting death of sixth-year Mercer basketball player Jibri Bryan. It seemed as if wherever you went at Mercer, the topic came up.
Sure enough, there was plenty of heartfelt joy on the high school campuses. And there was plenty of shared grief at Mercer. The highest of highs and lowest of lows, on the same day in the same city.
I'm not going to pass judgement this week on what happened with Bryan. As of Thursday, there were too many important details surrounding the shooting at Flash Foods on the corner of College and Forsyth still outstanding to draw any conclusions. Sure, the mind wants to connect the dots, but there aren't enough dots out there yet to put together a picture.
There will be time to break down what happened and to address the issues surrounding the situation. But that time isn't now.
Mercer officials had the right answer to focus on the emotions on campus. The vigil held Wednesday night struck a perfect tone. No words as to what happened. No long-winded speeches. Just some words from the university minister, some prayer time and a moving, candle-lit rendition of "Amazing Grace" inside Hawkins Arena.
If you haven't seen video from the vigil, go to macon.com and do so. The way the final verse of "Amazing Grace" was handled -- with hundreds of students on the arena floor raising their candles -- was one of the most beautiful moments I've seen come out of a situation like this.
The day started with tears of joy from coaches and players at Stratford. The day ended with tears of sorrow from many at Mercer.
All those tears were appropriate. And they all were signs of the closeness of groups of people in Macon and Middle Georgia brought together through sports.
That feeling I had at the end of the day? Reassurance that the vast majority of people in Macon care about each other.
And that's a good feeling to have.
Contact Ron Seibel at 744-4222 or rseibel@macon.com
This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 8:50 PM with the headline "Ron Seibel: A day for highs, lows in Macon ."