What happened in Tucson

I guess everybody who writes has to write about the shootings in Tucson. I tried not to think about it too much all day yesterday, but it was still there when I went to bed and I found that I had something to say.

My husband and I did not hear about the shootings until late in the day on Saturday. We were busy and out all morning, distracted by the kitchen project in the afternoon, but late in the afternoon the talk on the robin was all about what had happened, so we turned on CNN. 

There we heard the news of the tragedy, all incomplete, all awful. A disturbed young man stepped up to an elected Representative to the US Congress and shot her through the head as she conducted a meeting with constituents. On the side, he shot and killed six persons besides, and wounded twelve or so. As the newsgivers told us about this tragedy, the emotion coming from the screen was this: a kind of warped elation. "At last, something to chew on."  The news industry serves a greedy monster. That is plain to see.

I want to focus on the two points that were most important to me.

When I heard that a nine year old girl had been killed, my feelings all went her way. And yesterday morning, when I learned who the little girl was, I wondered that the focus of the tragedy could be anybody else, no matter how important or beloved.

Nobody is more important than a nine year old girl in a family. Nobody more beloved. This little girl was a shining star. How can her family survive? Her mother, father, brother? That they are going to have to wake up day after day with her memory in their hearts, eyes, body, just wrenches my heart with compassion.
I grieve for the family of Christina Green.  God be with all of us.

My second focus is on the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner. I 've heard all kinds of dancing around the subject, but this young man is clearly out of his mind.  I heard some official call him a criminal yesterday.   I have had lots of experience with our mental health system, and I'd like to say that it's crazier than the clients.  I will talk more about that sometime, but for now I'd just like to say that people in this guy's condition are not responsible for their actions, however heinous they might be. We have to "get" somebody, don't we? Sometimes we can't "get" somebody. We have to reflect on our entire system and way of life. We have to make changes now so that some other unhappy American kid won't do the same thing in a year, two years, ten years.  We cannot fix what Jared has done. We must look at ourselves and our nation. He is now in custody, thanks to the bravery of onlookers at the incident. He should be kept there. He should tell us everything in his mind, and of his associates and everything that led him to do this act. He can do this. He is lucid enough to post messages on all the social networks, apparently. He needs to be medicated (and you don't know how much I hate to say that.) I grieve for Jared. God be with all of us.

Well, t hat is all I will write about today. Shortly I have to go to McD's to get coffee and Egg McBiscuits as they are as good as anything for miles around, as we found out yesterday by fruitlessly driving the streets of Chula and Bonita for a leisurely breakfast. YAZZYBEL