our One Guest: Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center on deciphering the web of hate and conspiracy theories being linked to Jared Lee Loughner.
Hour Two Guest: Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) on his friend and colleague Gabrielle Giffords, security issues facing members of Congress, and the heated political environment in Arizona.
In light of the horrific events in Arizona over the weekend, President Obama has called on Americans to observe a moment of silence at 11 a.m. today in honor of the wounded and dead (video below).
By the time you read this, 11 a.m. will have passed, but it’s not too late for us to all observe our own moments of silence in the future when confronted by inflammatory and overheated rhetoric. Not to maintain silence in the face of anger and hatred, mind you, but at least to reflect for a moment before responding so that our reactions can be properly gauged to tone down the rhetoric while advancing the discourse.
Even those who disagree most vociferously with us on the most fundamental of issues want in the end to make our country and this world a better place. If, in the passion of the debate, they lose sight of those things we hold in common, it’s up to us to avoid duplicating that loss of focus. No problem is so great that we can allow the disagreements over how to solve it to tempt us into becoming a problem ourselves.
In those moments of silence, it must be remembered that the tragedy that occurred on Saturday is one of appalling shock and pain felt by human beings just like ourselves, and just like those we disagree with. The pain and loss experienced by the loved ones of Saturday’s victims will endure long after debates over policy have moved on.
The youngest victim of the shootings on Saturday was 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who had been born on the day of the attacks on 9/11/01. Christina was featured in a book called “Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11.” In a burst of gunfire over the weekend, a symbol of hope has become a symbol for just how fragile hope is. As painful as the loss of this child is, it’s not a reason to give up hope, much less to give up the equanimity and faith in a common humanity that gives us hope.
We will go forward, if only because we have no choice. In the light of these events which have so painfully illustrated the cost of moving forward without reflection, let’s all take a moment of silence whenever needed to make sure that our response is the proper one to bring us to the place we all want to be.
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