By Linda Grupp Boutin
I heard an anguished father's voice. Deep in the throes of grief over his son's death last Friday night at UCSB, my heart broke as he spoke. All his inhibitions were turned off. He spoke his mind with force and truth. He demands a solution to the problem our society faces. On why we as a culture accept more and more shooting sprees. On why students just days away from graduation must fear for their lives and dive for cover as the shooting starts. On why the NRA and our politicians keep allowing those obviously unable to cope with daily life encouragement to buy and keep automatic weapons that they can then use to wreak havoc on whomever they choose.
So once again we must ask ourselves why a troubled young man legally owned 3 automatic handguns. Once again we must ask why did he have more than enough ammunition in clips of 10 shots each to have taken out over 400 people. About why he was allowed to put one of his roommates in jail for stealing $22 worth of candles, but when his family reached out to law enforcement to check if he was okay, almost nothing was done. It is carefully explained that he was polite to the police when they checked on him. That he did not qualify as a 5150. That he was legally competent to buy the weaponry and clips and ammunition that he took with him in his shiny, black BMW. REALLY?
How many grieving families do we witness before we arise in protest? How close does it need to come to your neighborhood before we decide ammunition clips of 10 to 50 rounds are meant for soldiers defending our shores, not for the average person walking on the street? Do you allow it just because the NRA says it must be so?
I can tell you that it has come way too close to me for comfort. I am plagued by memories of a gunman opening fire in a McDonald's less than 2 blocks from my home. I am exhausted wondering which of my nieces of nephews is at which college around the country when a young man reaches his breaking point. My niece just graduated from UCSB last spring. Thank goodness he didn't decide to open fire a year earlier when she walked those very streets. Yet just because she is safe, still there are 6 other young people dead today along with the gunman himself. One of those who died was 22 years old and from the very city where I live! And why in the world do we tolerate our elementary schools becoming the killing grounds for disenchanted and sick young mens' discontent?
These are not the values that have made America great over the centuries. And so many of these shootings wind up with the troubled person shooting themselves! Why do we allow this to continue? When we as Americans make up our minds to do something about a problem, we are strong standing together. The majority of Americans no longer even own guns. Most of us feel that gun laws must be strengthened, but what have you actually done to help with this problem? Have you picked up a phone and called your representative? Have you sent an e-mail to your senator? Have you signed a petition calling for stronger background checks before guns can be purchased?
Listening to that anguished father admit that he did nothing when he heard of Sandyhook illustrates the problem. Now he is speaking out, do each of us need to lose a loved one to a gun before standing up? Let's get proactive and realize we too are just one gun away from his pain. Can you hear his voice and empathize?
Showing posts with label assault weapons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assault weapons. Show all posts
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Celebrating an Unexpected Heroine
By Linda Grupp Boutin
In the midst of drums of war pounding in Syria, celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and the fuss over one 20-year-old dancing at the MTV Music Awards, did you miss the story of Antoinette Tuff last week? If so, you missed hearing about an unexpected heroine demonstrating how to save lives while solving a small part of the problem of misuse of guns in America.
She started her week following her normal routine. And despite personal problems in her life, she showed up to work as a school bookkeeper at an elementary school in Georgia. Little did she anticipate what the work week would bring. Because by Friday, she found herself sitting across from Anderson Cooper on CNN being interviewed and introduced to the 911 operator who helped keep her calm while she faced the unexpected challenge of a mentally unstable man with an AK-47 and almost 500 rounds of ammunition standing in the school office.
Usually Antoinette would have been in her busy at her desk on a Tuesday morning, but had been diverted to take a phone call before settling down to her usual work at the school. She shared with Anderson Cooper that she had received bad news, but not the exact nature of the problem she had learned about on the call. The next thing she knew she was calling 911 while talking to Michael Hill holding the gun and telling her he didn't care if he lived or not.
What would you do if faced with such a situation at work? Turns out Antoinette had training in handling crisis situations. After the mass shooting at Sandy Hook last December combined with shootings at schools for far too many years, administrators have realized their employees needed some preparations. But it turns out, according to what she shared in her interview, that she also had learned some critical skills on Sundays and Wednesdays from her pastor at church.
Through her fears and despite her own problems, Antoinette saw the hurting human inside the gunman. She spoke to him respectfully calling him "Sir" and finding their common cord of humanity. She relayed his instructions and requests to the 911 operator who sent the messages to the police surrounding the school. After some more talking, Michael placed his weapon down, set the bullets aside, took a drink of water, and laid on the floor to surrender to the police.
Although he had shot some rounds off, not one person died or was wounded on the scary morning at the school. Antoinette's coworkers warned the teachers to lock the doors and protect the children, but the gunman never got near the classrooms. A calm and understanding woman talked Michael Hill into turning himself in and every parent of each child and the loved ones of the workers at the school were able to hug their family members thanks to a very special woman named Antoinette Tuff.
As the police prepared to come in and arrest the gunman, she took the time to tell him that she was proud of him for not hurting anyone. She also told him that she loved him and that we all have problems in life and that he could get through his problems too. She encouraged him and acknowledged his pain and found the words to disarm the armed man thereby saving countless lives.
Goodness won out last Thursday morning at a school in Georgia. And though this week's news challenges us to see the goodness in life, let's celebrate together an unexpected heroine who provides for us the role model for a Christian putting their faith into action and walking in the footsteps of Jesus.
In the midst of drums of war pounding in Syria, celebrations of the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and the fuss over one 20-year-old dancing at the MTV Music Awards, did you miss the story of Antoinette Tuff last week? If so, you missed hearing about an unexpected heroine demonstrating how to save lives while solving a small part of the problem of misuse of guns in America.
She started her week following her normal routine. And despite personal problems in her life, she showed up to work as a school bookkeeper at an elementary school in Georgia. Little did she anticipate what the work week would bring. Because by Friday, she found herself sitting across from Anderson Cooper on CNN being interviewed and introduced to the 911 operator who helped keep her calm while she faced the unexpected challenge of a mentally unstable man with an AK-47 and almost 500 rounds of ammunition standing in the school office.
Usually Antoinette would have been in her busy at her desk on a Tuesday morning, but had been diverted to take a phone call before settling down to her usual work at the school. She shared with Anderson Cooper that she had received bad news, but not the exact nature of the problem she had learned about on the call. The next thing she knew she was calling 911 while talking to Michael Hill holding the gun and telling her he didn't care if he lived or not.
What would you do if faced with such a situation at work? Turns out Antoinette had training in handling crisis situations. After the mass shooting at Sandy Hook last December combined with shootings at schools for far too many years, administrators have realized their employees needed some preparations. But it turns out, according to what she shared in her interview, that she also had learned some critical skills on Sundays and Wednesdays from her pastor at church.
Through her fears and despite her own problems, Antoinette saw the hurting human inside the gunman. She spoke to him respectfully calling him "Sir" and finding their common cord of humanity. She relayed his instructions and requests to the 911 operator who sent the messages to the police surrounding the school. After some more talking, Michael placed his weapon down, set the bullets aside, took a drink of water, and laid on the floor to surrender to the police.
Although he had shot some rounds off, not one person died or was wounded on the scary morning at the school. Antoinette's coworkers warned the teachers to lock the doors and protect the children, but the gunman never got near the classrooms. A calm and understanding woman talked Michael Hill into turning himself in and every parent of each child and the loved ones of the workers at the school were able to hug their family members thanks to a very special woman named Antoinette Tuff.
As the police prepared to come in and arrest the gunman, she took the time to tell him that she was proud of him for not hurting anyone. She also told him that she loved him and that we all have problems in life and that he could get through his problems too. She encouraged him and acknowledged his pain and found the words to disarm the armed man thereby saving countless lives.
Goodness won out last Thursday morning at a school in Georgia. And though this week's news challenges us to see the goodness in life, let's celebrate together an unexpected heroine who provides for us the role model for a Christian putting their faith into action and walking in the footsteps of Jesus.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Tear Down That Wall-Part 2
By Linda Grupp Boutin
After posting Part 1 of this series, I started asking myself why I feel so strongly about the issue of assault weapons, guns and massacres. It took some self reflection before I remembered a day in my life. It amazes me how you can push a memory down and almost forget that it happened altogether. And yet those memories linger and color how we see the world.
On a hot July day just before my 30th birthday, a nurse called me and asked me to visit a patient in a hospital with digestive issues like mine. She asked me to give this person some encouragement because of our shared problems. I didn't really want to go, but remembered a special person who had visited me at UCLA 5 years earlier on the same mission.
We only had one car at the time, so after dropping my husband off at work I drove to the nearby hospital and spent a half hour reassuring another person that the therapy she required was liveable and she would still have a life after the hospital. Gary and I had considered stopping at the McDonald's near our house on the way in, but because we were running a bit late discarded the idea. Instead, we stopped in to check our post office box for mail and drove him straight to work. He would get some dinner when he got there. We had no idea at the time how pivotal this decision would become.
These hospital visits always left me emotionally exhausted and tired and when I saw a McDonald's between the hospital and freeway, I drove through the pick-up window and bought a chocolate shake. It tasted so good with the bright San Diego sun beaming down and heating up our car with no air conditioning. I drove to the freeway and started the half hour trip back home to San Ysidro.
Just as I passed San Diego's center city, I noticed a police car ripping down the freeway past me, lights flashing, but no siren. I stayed out of his way and before another couple of minutes passed, a second police vehicle went speeding past. Now I had made this trip dozens of times and rarely saw anything more than an occasional California Highway Patrol vehicle. Soon a whole parade of police cars rolled past with a windowless police van included, all displayed flashing lights with no sirens. I started counting them and was at 7 when I was diverted off one freeway to another one. I took a different route home and wondered to myself what in the world was going on.
Once home, I said hi to our dog and flipped on the TV. All the local channels had interrupted regular broadcasts with the news. A shooting was underway less than a mile away at the very McDonald's we had been right next door to at the post office, the one where we wanted to buy Gary's dinner. I've thought about it long and hard and probably we would have left that restaurant before the gunman started shooting. But it had been very close. Only after a 77-minute standoff did a police sniper kill the gunman with a shot from the roof of the very post office where we had picked up our mail.
It stuns you when you learn you've had a near brush with death. They never reopened that McDonald's where 21 people died and another 19 were shot. Instead shortly afterwards they bulldozed the building and rebuilt a new restaurant further down the boulevard. Years later after memories had faded a bit, the City of San Diego built a college extension of Southwest College on the site. It's strange because this is the college where I took my first writing for publication class. Sometimes the degrees of separation in your life are a little too close for comfort.
So yes, I feel strongly about assault weapons. The man who affected at least 40 families in his mass murder carried an Uzi semi-automatic, a shotgun and a pistol to his crime. He lived 3 blocks from the murder site, technically making him our neighbor. Our paths had probably crossed many times. Seeing an issue up close in your own life makes a difference in how you perceive a problem. I know it has in mine. So I raise up my voice after all these years. It is time to ban assault weapons. It is time to do complete background checks. It is time to tear down that wall keeping us as a society from taking a stand. It is time to STOP these mass murders.
Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me fact-check my memory! http://en.wikipedia.org
After posting Part 1 of this series, I started asking myself why I feel so strongly about the issue of assault weapons, guns and massacres. It took some self reflection before I remembered a day in my life. It amazes me how you can push a memory down and almost forget that it happened altogether. And yet those memories linger and color how we see the world.
On a hot July day just before my 30th birthday, a nurse called me and asked me to visit a patient in a hospital with digestive issues like mine. She asked me to give this person some encouragement because of our shared problems. I didn't really want to go, but remembered a special person who had visited me at UCLA 5 years earlier on the same mission.
We only had one car at the time, so after dropping my husband off at work I drove to the nearby hospital and spent a half hour reassuring another person that the therapy she required was liveable and she would still have a life after the hospital. Gary and I had considered stopping at the McDonald's near our house on the way in, but because we were running a bit late discarded the idea. Instead, we stopped in to check our post office box for mail and drove him straight to work. He would get some dinner when he got there. We had no idea at the time how pivotal this decision would become.
These hospital visits always left me emotionally exhausted and tired and when I saw a McDonald's between the hospital and freeway, I drove through the pick-up window and bought a chocolate shake. It tasted so good with the bright San Diego sun beaming down and heating up our car with no air conditioning. I drove to the freeway and started the half hour trip back home to San Ysidro.
Just as I passed San Diego's center city, I noticed a police car ripping down the freeway past me, lights flashing, but no siren. I stayed out of his way and before another couple of minutes passed, a second police vehicle went speeding past. Now I had made this trip dozens of times and rarely saw anything more than an occasional California Highway Patrol vehicle. Soon a whole parade of police cars rolled past with a windowless police van included, all displayed flashing lights with no sirens. I started counting them and was at 7 when I was diverted off one freeway to another one. I took a different route home and wondered to myself what in the world was going on.
Once home, I said hi to our dog and flipped on the TV. All the local channels had interrupted regular broadcasts with the news. A shooting was underway less than a mile away at the very McDonald's we had been right next door to at the post office, the one where we wanted to buy Gary's dinner. I've thought about it long and hard and probably we would have left that restaurant before the gunman started shooting. But it had been very close. Only after a 77-minute standoff did a police sniper kill the gunman with a shot from the roof of the very post office where we had picked up our mail.
It stuns you when you learn you've had a near brush with death. They never reopened that McDonald's where 21 people died and another 19 were shot. Instead shortly afterwards they bulldozed the building and rebuilt a new restaurant further down the boulevard. Years later after memories had faded a bit, the City of San Diego built a college extension of Southwest College on the site. It's strange because this is the college where I took my first writing for publication class. Sometimes the degrees of separation in your life are a little too close for comfort.
So yes, I feel strongly about assault weapons. The man who affected at least 40 families in his mass murder carried an Uzi semi-automatic, a shotgun and a pistol to his crime. He lived 3 blocks from the murder site, technically making him our neighbor. Our paths had probably crossed many times. Seeing an issue up close in your own life makes a difference in how you perceive a problem. I know it has in mine. So I raise up my voice after all these years. It is time to ban assault weapons. It is time to do complete background checks. It is time to tear down that wall keeping us as a society from taking a stand. It is time to STOP these mass murders.
Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me fact-check my memory! http://en.wikipedia.org
Monday, March 25, 2013
Tear Down This Wall-Part 1
By Linda Grupp Boutin
I have been considering George Washington this afternoon. How does someone develop an idea, totally new and different that defies the ostensible authority of the day? When he sat in Valley Forge, did he question what in the world he was doing? Or was the pain of freezing cold, inadequate supplies and overwhelming numbers against him what occupied his thoughts? I find it nearly impossible to put myself in Washington's boots. Intuitively I understand that this man thought audacious ideas and had the perseverance to see it through.
Washington spent long days of his youth surveying the countryside. A surveyor must study the landscape around them and then carefully measure and record what is seen. From his observations, he understood that the area that would become the United States was a huge place. Did he take solace in the fact that the entire Atlantic Ocean created a huge distance between the U.S. and England?
I must admit that it's pretty much impossible for me to wrap my head around how George took his audacious vision and turned it into reality for all of us. So let me talk a bit about a later president, one who I remember from my lifetime, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President. I had an awareness of Reagan long before he became my president. First I heard of him as an actor and not one with the very best of movie roles on his bio. He surprised me quite a bit when he landed the position of Governor of California and I began to pay a bit more attention. But really, an actor turned politician running for president? Sounds ridiculous to say the least.
Yet Reagan gained the title of The Great Communicator and possibly all that time studying scripts and learning dialog helped him understand how to reach an audience. There was a whole lot more to this actor turned governor and eventually president than I had given him credit for. And like so many of the other strong voices in my lifetime, just 69 days after his inauguration he too took a bullet for his country. Another assassination attempt in my memory, I happened to be watching the news as it broke.
Just like with JFK, the Secret Service rushed Reagan to the hospital and once again we waited hours on end to see if this president would survive his wound. I've heard it said that had that bullet pierced Reagan's chest just one inch further over, his heart would have been destroyed. But this was a man with a very strong heart and will to live. After Reagan survived his too-close shave with death, in 1987 he gave a speech at the Brandenburg Gate. He shared the audacious spirit of our first president when he challenged the leader of the now defunct USSR, "Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Do you remember or did you learn about it in history class? Reagan dared his adversary to tear down the Berlin wall that had stood since 1961 while the USSR controlled East Berlin. It still amazes me that our president had the strength of character to directly challenge a wrong that had lasted over 25 years. His audacious and bold thought led to an eventual destruction of an arbitrary wall separating a city for decades. Reagan abhorred communism and did his best to correct the injustice he saw in the world. He was not a perfect president, no frail human can ever reach perfection. But for those families living in Berlin and trying to just visit family, he made a difference with his words. Just a couple of years after Reagan's speech, I rejoiced with the rest of the world when the Berliners tore that wall down brick by brick. He returned to Berlin in 1990 and took a couple of symbolic swings with a hammer to the remnants of this wall himself.
So how about you? Do you dare to dream an audacious dream? Have you raised your voice with concern about a problem you see? A friend of mine is working on a special project. She admires those who have helped others through adoption. She has conceived an idea to share this information on the internet with video clips. It's a tough assignment she's undertaken. And whether she brings it to fruition or not, I must admire her for trying. For raising her voice to speak about something she believes in and helping others find the resources they need to try adoption for their family.
For me, I am taking baby steps forward. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, I saw many people in their own ways trying to find some way to help this situation. After a lifetime spent punctuated with shooting after shooting, assassination after assassination, I have called my Representative and Senators to pledge my solidarity in an assault weapon ban. The only persons justified in carrying guns that can shoot 30-100 bullets at a time are soldiers fighting for our freedom. I don't care what the NRA yells about Second Amendment rights. I don't want to hear about any more first and second graders being dismembered in their classrooms by someone with a gun that can fire dozens of shots before reloading. A law may not stop the next gunman who steps out of the shadows to take another's life, but it surely is a place to start as a society to say that, "We are just not going to take it anymore! Stop the shooting and stop the killing!"
Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me fact-check my memory! http://en.wikipedia.org
I have been considering George Washington this afternoon. How does someone develop an idea, totally new and different that defies the ostensible authority of the day? When he sat in Valley Forge, did he question what in the world he was doing? Or was the pain of freezing cold, inadequate supplies and overwhelming numbers against him what occupied his thoughts? I find it nearly impossible to put myself in Washington's boots. Intuitively I understand that this man thought audacious ideas and had the perseverance to see it through.
Washington spent long days of his youth surveying the countryside. A surveyor must study the landscape around them and then carefully measure and record what is seen. From his observations, he understood that the area that would become the United States was a huge place. Did he take solace in the fact that the entire Atlantic Ocean created a huge distance between the U.S. and England?
I must admit that it's pretty much impossible for me to wrap my head around how George took his audacious vision and turned it into reality for all of us. So let me talk a bit about a later president, one who I remember from my lifetime, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President. I had an awareness of Reagan long before he became my president. First I heard of him as an actor and not one with the very best of movie roles on his bio. He surprised me quite a bit when he landed the position of Governor of California and I began to pay a bit more attention. But really, an actor turned politician running for president? Sounds ridiculous to say the least.
Yet Reagan gained the title of The Great Communicator and possibly all that time studying scripts and learning dialog helped him understand how to reach an audience. There was a whole lot more to this actor turned governor and eventually president than I had given him credit for. And like so many of the other strong voices in my lifetime, just 69 days after his inauguration he too took a bullet for his country. Another assassination attempt in my memory, I happened to be watching the news as it broke.
Just like with JFK, the Secret Service rushed Reagan to the hospital and once again we waited hours on end to see if this president would survive his wound. I've heard it said that had that bullet pierced Reagan's chest just one inch further over, his heart would have been destroyed. But this was a man with a very strong heart and will to live. After Reagan survived his too-close shave with death, in 1987 he gave a speech at the Brandenburg Gate. He shared the audacious spirit of our first president when he challenged the leader of the now defunct USSR, "Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Do you remember or did you learn about it in history class? Reagan dared his adversary to tear down the Berlin wall that had stood since 1961 while the USSR controlled East Berlin. It still amazes me that our president had the strength of character to directly challenge a wrong that had lasted over 25 years. His audacious and bold thought led to an eventual destruction of an arbitrary wall separating a city for decades. Reagan abhorred communism and did his best to correct the injustice he saw in the world. He was not a perfect president, no frail human can ever reach perfection. But for those families living in Berlin and trying to just visit family, he made a difference with his words. Just a couple of years after Reagan's speech, I rejoiced with the rest of the world when the Berliners tore that wall down brick by brick. He returned to Berlin in 1990 and took a couple of symbolic swings with a hammer to the remnants of this wall himself.
So how about you? Do you dare to dream an audacious dream? Have you raised your voice with concern about a problem you see? A friend of mine is working on a special project. She admires those who have helped others through adoption. She has conceived an idea to share this information on the internet with video clips. It's a tough assignment she's undertaken. And whether she brings it to fruition or not, I must admire her for trying. For raising her voice to speak about something she believes in and helping others find the resources they need to try adoption for their family.
For me, I am taking baby steps forward. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, I saw many people in their own ways trying to find some way to help this situation. After a lifetime spent punctuated with shooting after shooting, assassination after assassination, I have called my Representative and Senators to pledge my solidarity in an assault weapon ban. The only persons justified in carrying guns that can shoot 30-100 bullets at a time are soldiers fighting for our freedom. I don't care what the NRA yells about Second Amendment rights. I don't want to hear about any more first and second graders being dismembered in their classrooms by someone with a gun that can fire dozens of shots before reloading. A law may not stop the next gunman who steps out of the shadows to take another's life, but it surely is a place to start as a society to say that, "We are just not going to take it anymore! Stop the shooting and stop the killing!"
Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me fact-check my memory! http://en.wikipedia.org
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Finding a Voice
By Linda Grupp Boutin
Have you heard the story of Gabby Giffords? Talk about a person celebrating her voice and making the most of a tough situation...
I have watched many politicians in my life. One of my first memories, certainly of a political nature, was the assassination of my president, John F. Kennedy. In just the third grade, for the first time the principal called us onto the playground for an announcement. The president had been shot and we didn't know if he would survive. He did not and many days were lost to mourning his death, ending up with the state funeral where we saw his son, John-John, salute his father's coffin on the way to Arlington National Cemetery.
For me, I learned at this young age that using your voice, as JFK had, can be hazardous. Not everyone will agree with you. Some might even break the law in trying to silence you. Still his famous words ring loudly in my ears, "My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." It does not matter what your political affiliations might be, this is the sentiment our Founding Fathers adopted when overthrowing the shackles of being held as a British colony.
So what does all this have to do with Celebrating Your Voice? Gabby Giffords believes in the United States. On January 8, 2011, she held a "Congress on the Corner" meeting in a grocery store parking lot for her Arizona constituents. She represented them in the U.S. House of Representatives. During this event a gunman opened fire wounding her in the head, hitting 19 people with gunfire, and killing 6.
Although her condition was grave, she kept amazing all around her as she rallied from this wound. There are many physical problems a politician can work around. Many have served in Congress from wheelchairs, with artificial limbs, through cancer and a host of other challenges. But the one thing a politician cannot function without is a voice. They convince, cajole and consent with their words. Yet Gabby had taken that bullet to the area of the brain affecting speech.
Some demanded that because of her absence and grave injuries that she resign her post in Congress. But as the months passed her condition improved and by eight months later she appeared on the floor of the House to cast a vote. She has since resigned her seat, but has received much encouragement from others in Congress facing the same hazard she faced that Saturday morning from a gunman. To express your voice in the United States can be dangerous to your health.
Despite the trouble she has saying a simple sentence, Gabby with her husband Mark Kelly, former Space Shuttle astronaut, are leading the way in the fight against assault weapons. It was such a weapon that wounded her and took the lives of 6 others that Saturday morning near Tucson. When you hear Gabby speak, the effort required of her to put those words together is only overshadowed by the obvious strength of spirit and belief she courageously displays. She exemplifies what we all must do to make a difference in this world. She considers a problem, takes a stand to try and correct it, and uses her voice to convince us of the justice of her cause.
Many people try to define heroes as sports figures who achieve amazing feats or famous singers, actors and actresses who dazzle us with their performances, but what is it that we truly value in our heroes. For me, Gabby Giffords sums it up. She has taken adversity in her life and turned it to the good. You can agree or disagree with her political positions, but you can take nothing from the unvarnished courage she displays when advocating with a broken, but undefeated voice that she celebrates.
Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me fact-check my memory! http://en.wikipedia.org
Have you heard the story of Gabby Giffords? Talk about a person celebrating her voice and making the most of a tough situation...
I have watched many politicians in my life. One of my first memories, certainly of a political nature, was the assassination of my president, John F. Kennedy. In just the third grade, for the first time the principal called us onto the playground for an announcement. The president had been shot and we didn't know if he would survive. He did not and many days were lost to mourning his death, ending up with the state funeral where we saw his son, John-John, salute his father's coffin on the way to Arlington National Cemetery.
For me, I learned at this young age that using your voice, as JFK had, can be hazardous. Not everyone will agree with you. Some might even break the law in trying to silence you. Still his famous words ring loudly in my ears, "My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." It does not matter what your political affiliations might be, this is the sentiment our Founding Fathers adopted when overthrowing the shackles of being held as a British colony.
So what does all this have to do with Celebrating Your Voice? Gabby Giffords believes in the United States. On January 8, 2011, she held a "Congress on the Corner" meeting in a grocery store parking lot for her Arizona constituents. She represented them in the U.S. House of Representatives. During this event a gunman opened fire wounding her in the head, hitting 19 people with gunfire, and killing 6.
Although her condition was grave, she kept amazing all around her as she rallied from this wound. There are many physical problems a politician can work around. Many have served in Congress from wheelchairs, with artificial limbs, through cancer and a host of other challenges. But the one thing a politician cannot function without is a voice. They convince, cajole and consent with their words. Yet Gabby had taken that bullet to the area of the brain affecting speech.
Some demanded that because of her absence and grave injuries that she resign her post in Congress. But as the months passed her condition improved and by eight months later she appeared on the floor of the House to cast a vote. She has since resigned her seat, but has received much encouragement from others in Congress facing the same hazard she faced that Saturday morning from a gunman. To express your voice in the United States can be dangerous to your health.
Despite the trouble she has saying a simple sentence, Gabby with her husband Mark Kelly, former Space Shuttle astronaut, are leading the way in the fight against assault weapons. It was such a weapon that wounded her and took the lives of 6 others that Saturday morning near Tucson. When you hear Gabby speak, the effort required of her to put those words together is only overshadowed by the obvious strength of spirit and belief she courageously displays. She exemplifies what we all must do to make a difference in this world. She considers a problem, takes a stand to try and correct it, and uses her voice to convince us of the justice of her cause.
Many people try to define heroes as sports figures who achieve amazing feats or famous singers, actors and actresses who dazzle us with their performances, but what is it that we truly value in our heroes. For me, Gabby Giffords sums it up. She has taken adversity in her life and turned it to the good. You can agree or disagree with her political positions, but you can take nothing from the unvarnished courage she displays when advocating with a broken, but undefeated voice that she celebrates.
Thanks to Wikipedia for helping me fact-check my memory! http://en.wikipedia.org
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