Author Tom Zoellner writes about Gabby Giffords:
I know she would absolutely hate this circus. Anytime somebody assumes a public office, of course, they die to their own selves a little bit and make themselves into a human symbol, channeling the urges of the local interests that put them there.
Gabrielle no longer inhabited Tucson; Tucson instead inhabited Gabrielle. This mission is embedded in her title “United States representative.” She had to become a living-and-breathing distillation of everything this portion of the United States wanted her to say and be.
Now she is a silent representative of far more than she ever would have wanted: a symbol of how far we have drifted in the inhumane shallows of political conversation, the uneasiness about living in a polarized and suspicious America, the nihilism of a young man’s alternative reality of “grammar control” and the feeling of helplessness to do anything about it that wouldn’t cause even more harm and shouting.
My friend has become a public sacrifice to a thousand agendas and slogans. But she is also a wife and a daughter and an utterly decent person who was trying to make the best possible use of the gifts she was given. Gabby is sleeping now. I hope that it is a peaceful sleep. Against all of the drowning noise outside the hospital, one thing seems vitally important to me. I just want to see her again.
Read the whole thing at CNN here.
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2011.
Wow he said words I have been struggling to pinpoint myself.
The outpouring of grief and the support for all the victims has been beautiful and heartwarming. It has shown our City in its best light.
As much as everyone wants to be a part of the healing or part of the discussion, it too has become larger than life or a circus as Tom put it. Many people, maybe not deliberately, used this as a PR campaign or a expression of personal and political goals but its not about them. Its about families who lost their loved ones and who continue to grieve, its about people who need their bodies and minds to heal. I am not so sure continued public scrutiny is the best environment for this.
Not to say we shouldn’t honor them but lets honor them like they want to be honored and do it as they have expressed, like donating to their causes.
For the public servants they would probably also like it if you would just do your part in the world. Help a down on their luck stranger as Gabrielle and Gabe would have done, fight for justice like Judge Roll would have done, provide opportunities for our children so others like Christina can participate, but do it in the same spirit they would have – just for the sake of it and not for the recognition or the ‘sound bite’.
What would the other victims want? I am not sure but I will find out before I do anything. One thing I can guarantee is they would want to see their loved ones again. Honor your loved ones; you honor their memory as well.