A vigil for the mountain lion shot in the middle of Palo Alto.

"What it evoked in the community was a feeling of sadness," said Larissa Keet, a psychotherapist who was a teacher in the Palo Alto Unified School District for 20 years and who organized the vigil. "I felt a vigil was something that could help with all of those range of sentiments that get aroused and that we could somehow channel those feelings to provide healing for all of us."

Six people formed a circle around a photo of a mountain lion and two American Indian Zuni fetishes -- miniature animal-shape sculptures believed to embody the spiritual force of a soul -- in a grove of redwood trees at Rinconada Park.

"I felt blessed that a lion was in our presence, even though it ended the way it did," said Kristina Lindsay, 19, who canceled plans to watch a movie with friends when she heard about the vigil.

"It's like Iraq," said her mom, Barbara Lindsay, a teacher at Walter Hays Elementary School, referring to the war. ``We were too worried thinking about what could happen instead of what should happen."

Chris Chang, 46, mused that if the lion had been able to speak, it would have said: "I'm just a teenager venturing out and by mistake ending up in the wrong neighborhood. Why didn't you give me a chance to figure it out? Why did you cut my life short?"

Not everyone in Palo Alto is upset the lion was shot.

Antony Awaida, 41, was under the tree the lion was perched on before police noticed it.

"My perspective is that if you're under the tree and the cat is there and there are kids around -- 2, 3, 4 years old -- making a decision not to shoot the animal is a lot tougher than if you're sitting in your back yard reading about it in the newspaper in hindsight," he said.

Halfway through the vigil, the women took a moment of silence to think about the lion and see if a name would arise for it. That didn't work. About 10 minutes later, Barbara Lindsay uttered a name that was received with cheers: Braveheart.

A couple of observations:

- A lot of these airheads seem to be teachers.

- California is going to Kerry this fall.