The Bless Bennington or Bennington Moment project is inspired by the historical Big Ben Minute, a campaign in World War II to reverse the despair and helplessness brought on by German Blitz on the UK. People were asked to spend a minute in silence each night at 9 pm, focusing their thoughts on peace. During that minute the BBC broadcast the sound of the Big Ben clock in London as it struck 9, so Big Ben became the symbol for the minute of peace. In a similar spirit, we envision people in Bennington taking one minute each morning at 9 AM or evening at 9 PM—or any time it occurs to you to do so—to extend feelings of gratitude, love and blessing to the town of Bennington.

There is an article on the “Silent Minute” in Wikipedia, with this anecdote: In 1945 a British intelligence officer was interrogating a high Nazi official. He asked him why he thought Germany lost the war. His reply was, “During the war, you had a secret weapon for which we could find no counter measure, which we did not understand, but it was very powerful. It was associated with the striking of the Big Ben each evening. I believe you called it the ‘Silent Minute.'”