Jared Lee Loughner carved his name in national history Jan. 8 with the cold plastic of a 9mm Glock pistol when he shot U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., in the head, and killed or injured many others. The frequency with which mass shootings bombard the 24-hour news cycle has numbed Americans from the gravity of these tragedies since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre - apart from, of course, the 2007 Virginia Tech incident. But the Tucson shooting changed that. Maryland resident Mike Sneeringer, Jr. in The Baltimore Sun spoke of his bitterness with the sensationalism of news reports following the shooting: "Are the [annual murder] victims in Baltimore City and their families not as important as those that were struck down in Tucson, Ariz.?" Yes, as victims of violent murders, they are as important. But the characters and national stage of the Tucson tragedy facilitated a drama so symbolic and intriguing to so many Americans that the attention was inevitable. President Obama seemed to recognize and understand this when he delivered one of the most sublime speeches of his career during a Tucson memorial service for victims of the shooting.
Several factors were responsible for making it a memorable yet offensive tragedy: The fact that it occurred during a symbolic exercise of our constitutional right to peaceful assembly; the eminence of the victims, such as Giffords and Judge John Roll; the several poignant acts of heroism during the incident; the bizarre circumstances of Loughner's life and personality and, most importantly, the death of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. I say Green was the most important factor because the innocence of her age gives her impunity from the swampy waters of the cynicisms we might conjure in the wake of this tragedy. Yes, there are unfortunate victims of violence all across the nation whose deaths are not followed by a presidential eulogy. Yes, major violent incidents always seem to galvanize gun safety debate. And yes, people will spend months bickering about whether to blame the perpetrator or the system. But little Christina was shot to death, and the killer grinned in his mug shot. Such a combination creates a mental image so abusive to the soul that our earlier pessimism seems trite in comparison and more suited for Fox News or bipartisan schoolyards. This is when Obama steps in and lets everyone know, including the general public, that recess is over.
In 1755, one of the most infamous earthquakes in modern history took place in Lisbon, Portugal. The wreckage and casualties were so devastating that they forced several Enlightenment intellectuals and philosophers to re-evaluate the then-widely accepted notion that the world is continuously watched over by a benevolent deity. Indeed, following the incident, Voltaire satirized the notion in his most famous opus, "Candide." Obama, on the other hand, expressed empathy in his speech: "When a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations - to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless." But he was already the wiser: "In the words of Job, 'when I looked for light, then came darkness.' Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath. For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack." And he nailed it. The humility, courage and wisdom that permeated his speech were gloriously Lincolnesque and reminded me why Obama was elected president of the United States in the first place. He is constantly aware that the future is more important than the past, the living more than the dead, progress more than tradition. He is the noble guardian of the United States. Without proper guidance, Obama knows the Tucson tragedy could be selfishly used to fuel bipartisan flames, which would not only continue to stunt the healing of our afflicted republic, but also disgrace the memory of those lost - including Green who, just elected to her elementary school's student council, "was just becoming aware of our democracy."
Green truly is the most important part of this story. Neither a lawmaker nor a taxpayer, she was just a blameless token of what might have been. She symbolized the hope shared by all humans: that our posterity will be kinder to each other than we are, will fall deeper in love than we are even capable of and will be more honest. Sure, we can point fingers, but I agree with our president when he said we ought rather to "strive to be better friends and neighbors, coworkers and parents" and remember little Christina's life instead of her death.
Ravi Katari is an ophthalmology research assistant at the University.
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