Silence is a powerful tool

AS THE motley collection of flowers, teddy bears and heart-shaped balloons in Manchester town centre demonstrates, there is no correct response to tragedy. Tattoos of bees, spontaneous Oasis songs, the wonderful response of Dan Hett to the news his murdered brother Martyn’s name was trending on Twitter — ‘He would, I think it’s safe to say, be f****** loving this’ — it is not our place to judge. However, when the time is right, it might be appropriate to think about applause. In Stockholm on Wednesday night, UEFA contrived to organise an utterly chaotic minute of remembrance for the dead of Manchester. It began with the players lined up around the centre circle, with no announcement of what this meant. People began clapping. The announcement came and the stadium fell silent. Then, when the referee blew his whistle to signal the start, the Ajax fans resumed their applause. Unsure, Manchester United’s joined in. Then someone started a ‘Manchester, la-la-la’ chant echoed by many thousands. Defiant, perhaps, but to what end? This was not a good left back from the 1950s being appreciated. This was a terrorist atrocity. What exactly are we applauding? The lives of the victims? One was eight. She didn’t get a life, poor soul. Shouldn’t we think about that for a minute, rather than just clapping along? It is as if, in this social media age, we cannot simply reflect, even for one minute. We have to insert our thoughts, our emotions, into the debate. But this isn’t a debate. It’s a commemoration, a contemplation, a mark of respect, a time to remember. And if we are applauding out of defiance, then whose defiance? Ours. For being there, for carrying on; we are applauding ourselves. When a great footballer dies, the modern trend is to celebrate. That is understandable. Nothing George Best did in his professional lifetime made Old Trafford fall silent, so why start now? Yet Manchester experienced tragedy, horror and pain. Should we not, just for a minute, consider that in silence? Not every scene requires a soundtrack.