Tucson Tragedy

By now, most of us have heard of the senseless shootings in a shopping center in Tucson, AZ last Friday. While people gathered around AZ Representative Gabrielle Giffords as she spoke, a 22-year-old mentally unstable gunman who was working alone appeared to come out of nowhere and opened fire on the unsuspecting crowd. Fourteen people, including Mrs. Gifford, were injured. Six people lost their lives. At this time, no one knows why these acts were carried out. The gunman has been arrested and has been charged with counts of murder.

This morning, medical authorities released information that the representative's condition has improved. She was shot in the face from close range. Given the fact that she did not die immediately was a miracle.

If you are like me, you get sick and tired of hearing situations such as this where an injured celebrity is mentioned by name while other hurt people are not mentioned by name or anything else is mentioned that defined how that departed person lived or the abscence left in his or her survivors' lives. This afternoon, CBS's THE TALK mentioned all of the men, women and one 9-year-old girl who lost their lives. It was great to see the media come forward like this!

Among the dead are grandmothers, grandfathers, fathers, sons, a 30-year-old man who had just become engaged and a little girl who had barely started her short life on 9/11. Sadly, the girl was born on one of the most tragic days in U.S. history and died on another day of great devastation.

What the families and friends of all of these people must be going through right now is just dreadful. We need to pray for each and every one of them.

The Talk's spokeswomen all discussed what it would be like to be the parent of someone who just loses it and goes out on a rampage that concludes with the wiping out of innocent people's lives. I know that it is easy to sit back and decide what we would say and do but I am sure that it is quite another thing to actually have it happen to you. Some said that they would turn their backs on their child. Another mother said that because of the intense shame that she would feel, she would probably do away with herself. I think that we can all agree that life would never ever be the same again...

My question in this particular case is why is it that though people were terrified of this gunman for months, that no one did anything that could have prevented this from happening??? One woman who went to college with him had come out on FACEBOOK and told everyone that if something ever happened to her, authorities needed to look at this young man because he was more than likely the reason for her fall. I realize that in many cases, people are totally shocked when someone comes out and does this to a group of people whom he did not know. But when a man or woman has displayed upsetting behavior, someone should have gotten involved, gotten the man the help that he needed then. If they had, these six people would be planning tonight's dinner, tomorrow's coffee club, an upcoming wedding to the love of his life, and for one little girl, playing with her little friends after school. I have taken these murders just as tough as everyone who did not know these individuals personally. But, given the fact that our Abigayle is just 7-months-younger than the child murdered, my heart just breaks...

Please, People, keep these families in your prayers.

VLE-B