Tuscon Arizona Shooting UPDATE: Christina Taylor Green

As many of you are probably already aware, Jared Lee Loughner; the gunman in the Tuscon, Arizona shooting on January 8th testified in court today. Although the details from what I'm trying to read about it are sketchy, it appears he didn't speak much; the media is still trying to scapegoat like crazy and the affected are still reeling in from the shock, and I don't blame them. I did want to bring attention to one of the victims, who's plight deeply affected me, as I'm sure it has to many others: Christina Taylor Green

This nine year-old girl was the youngest victim of Jared Lee Loughner's heinous spree. Born on September 11th, 2001; a day forever etched in my memory when terrorists conducted the deadliest attack on American soil. She was among those featured in a photograpy book called Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11. Her father spoke on CNN so arrestingly: "She came in on a tragedy, and she left on a tragedy. But the nine years between were special". Only because her interest in politics moved her to meet her state representative where the violence broke out, Christina's death was a horrible consequence of simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

While at work, I mulled over copies of The New York Post and New York Daily News articles over who the victims were last Saturday. Although they're not my favorite newspapers in the world, the articles about Christina from the perspective of her grandfather (Dallas Green, former manager for the Yankees and the Mets) were very moving. I'll post them here and here.

People die and are born every day of human existence, but the circumstances and personal history of Christina's death are disturbingly, and saddeningly symbolistic. I like to think that as Americans, we are able to learn something from 9/11, and come together in greater strength as a nation. Nearly ten years since that tragedy, we still face the grim reality that not everyone shares the same optimism as many of us would hope to. I'm pretty sure Jared Loughner had no idea the girl he killed was born on 9/11, but what she meant to her family because of that day, and for many of us who would later learn, it's as if Loughner killed a piece of hope that she represented to so many people. In the days of a bad economy brought on by irresponsible spending, and acerbic political smear campaigns, it makes me wonder if we are still learning about what it takes to be civilized in the moral sense of the word. With every tragedy that occurs in our lives, we stop and pause for reflection, but there's a reason why we took history classes in school - to learn about preventing them happening again.

My thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims,
- Jon