Have We Forgotten How To Mourn?

December, 2010 as we drove through the small town of Orange Grove, Texas we noticed that crowds of people lined the sides of the road.  Everywhere we looked there was a profusion of American flags, everywhere, there wasn't a residence or business that was not displaying one.  Big yellow ribbons trimmed in black ribbon were placed all around the center of town.  As we looked left, a number of older veterans wore their caps, adorned with their ribbons and pins.  The mood was somber not festive, and suddenly we realized that we'd driven in town as they awaited the hearse that brought home the body of young Marine Colton Rusk.  The hometown football hero and beloved son, had been killed in action in Afghanistan and he was returning home in a flag draped coffin to be laid to rest.  His family, friends and neighbors mourned, and others who had never known Colton joined them in their grief.  Together they gathered to honor the young soldier and to bid him a final farewell.

Orange Grove, Texas was small town America, exemplified.  Even during that saddest of moments we felt a kinship with the residents of that small community. We mourned along with them as they paid one last tribute to a fallen soldier.

On Saturday, December 9, 2011, the citizens of Tucson, Arizona were stunned when a madman opened fire outside a Safeway grocery store and gunned down those who'd gathered to meet and greet their Congressional Representative Gabrielle Giffords as she held one of her usual "Congress on the Corner" events.  It gave her an opportunity to speak to her constituents, and hear their concerns.  Interrupted by violence, it was not to be.  When the shooter had been subdued by common citizens, the carnage told a grim story.  Six people laid dead on the ground, including a 9 year old girl.  Others lay seriously wounded and Congresswoman Giffords, the target of the violence had been shot in the head.

Before all the damage had been assessed, before the shooter had been identified, the liberal left, beginning with Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, began an endless session of finger pointing and blaming the "vitriolic speech" of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, the Tea Party Movement and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the motive for the madman's actions.  Even after he had been identified as a mentally disturbed, lunatic with no ties to the political right, the accusations continued, joined by pundits, newspapers, television so called journalists and politicians. 

Sadly, it became clear.  We have become a nation that has forgotten how to mourn. We have forgotten how to unite in grief and in sorrow.  Unlike  the residents of that small Texas town, this nation has forgotten what it is like to pull together, and mourn the loss of fellow citizens.  During our nightly reading this evening, we came across this article in Real Clear Politics.  Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, we realized that Debra Saunders was expressing much of what we felt, and decided to share.

January 11, 2011



As Country Mourns, Media Plays Up Partisanship
By Debra Saunders


How do we react to the horrific murders of Christina Green, 9; John Roll, 63; Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Schneck, 79; and the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and 13 others?

For one thing, we can refuse to engage in political opportunism. There's been too much of that.

Before any relevant facts about the alleged shooter were in, New York Times' columnist Paul Krugman posted a blog in which he admitted that he had no proof that the right was involved, but blamed Sarah Palin anyway for targeting the Democratic congresswoman's district in "cross hairs." MSNBC host Keith Olbermann did likewise.

Slate's Jack Shafer put that trick to rest when he wrote, "For as long as I've been alive, cross hairs and bull's-eyes have been an accepted part of the graphical lexicon when it comes to political debates. Such 'inflammatory' words as targeting, attacking, destroying, blasting, crushing, burying, knee-capping, and others have similarly guided political thought and action. Not once have the use of these images or words tempted me or anybody else I know to kill."

There's been opportunism on the right as well. Before the blood was even dry, some conservatives leaped at the opportunity to wallow in their beloved role as victim. On CNN's "Reliable Sources," radio talk-show host Steve Malzberg said that after he got a CNN alert about the shooting, he turned to his son and remarked, "Wait -- five minutes, they're going to blame talk radio."

Malzberg offered up tit-for-tat quotes from the left -- including President Obama's remark, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." Proving what? We know that Palin's "cross hairs" is a phony excuse to dish out blame. So why show that Republicans can be equally as craven?

I've decided not to use the accused shooter's name because that's what he wants.

As of this writing, there is nothing tying this loser to the tea party movement or the GOP -- and he wasn't shy about airing his views. Yes, he listed "Mein Kampf" as one of his favorite books. He also listed "The Communist Manifesto." From what we know now, he appears to have no partisan leanings, only a sick desire for infamy.

Longtime friend Bryce Tierney told Mother Jones that the accused shooter became obsessed with Giffords after he attended a 2007 "Congress on Your Corner" event and she failed to answer his bizarre question, "What is government if words have no meaning?"

Tierney, who described the alleged shooter as nonideological, thinks his friend's motive was "mainly to just promote chaos. He wanted the media to freak out about this whole thing."

So how do the media react? Lacking any solid evidence tying conservative speech to the suspect, CNN reporters and media scolds pronounced that Arizona's political "climate" was a factor. "Climate" in this story is a code word for: no proof.

With a precious 9-year-old girl and five others dead, and an energetic congresswoman and other shooting victims recovering, this country has suffered a tremendous loss. On the left and the right, some partisans are determined to use this tragedy to defame their political enemies.

It seems that as a country, we have forgotten how to mourn.

dsaunders@sfchronicle.com
Copyright 2011, Creators Syndicate Inc.


As bloggers our purpose has always been to inform and to unite those who think as we do in a forum wherein we can exchange ideas.  We believe that our side is correct, of course, and if we can influence someone, or convince someone to view politics as we do, we feel rewarded, we feel good.  Before we blogged in this site we owned our own domain.  In those days Sister Two, who is a much better writer, wrote our articles and maintained the website.   We had many more contributors to our blog than we do now.  When our mother suddenly passed away in the summer of 2009 we decided to give up the blog. 

We have tried never to use words that would incite violence, but we must admit, we've not held back and worried if someone disagreed with our opinion.  We truly hate to see all that has  transpired since the Tucson shootings to result in the government being compelled to censure our right to expression in any way at all.  As a Tea Party member I have always been proud of the way our people have comported themselves at each event that I have attended. 

We will eagerly wait, watch and listen to see if the "rhetoric" between the parties tones down a bit.  We do pledge this:  We oppose most of the legislation and tendencies of the Obama administration.  We stand for fiscal responsibility, smaller government and an adherence to the Constitution as the highest law in the land. 

Once again, as we have since the Tucson tragedy took place, we pray for the full recovery of the victims, especially Representative Giffords.   But we will not be bullied by the left, nor will we be made to feel any sense of responsibility when we know that we, and those with whom we associate have not done anything for which we should apologize or be ashamed.