The nation was awakened by that deafening shot.

I'll co-host 'TODAY' from Los Angeles Saturday morning and then make my way up to Merced for that evening's graduation ceremony. I'm still touching up my remarks, but my challenge to the Class of 2010 will be to break through the deafening and too often negative echo chamber of the digital era and become critical and independent thinkers.

"The quality of silence in my life speaks to the health of my soul/mind. If the silence is deafening, suppressive, terrifying...

Sometimes the sound of silence is the most deafening sound of all.