TucsonTragedy

18 people shot. A Federal judge dead. A Congresswoman gravely wounded with a bullet through her head. A terrible tragedy went down today outside a Tucson, Arizona Safeway store.

In all, 6 are dead from the attack at a constituent event for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Included among the dead are Chief Justice of the U.S. District Court for Arizona John Roll.

Congresswoman Giffords and Justice Roll have been memorialized all day as this senseless tragedy unfolds. And the blogs are rampant about motives and, on the left, tea party influence, since the Congresswoman has been harassed in the past.

I am a left wing nutjob, but I don't want to dwell on political motives behind this senseless act. While it might be possible that 22 year old suspect Jared Lee Loughner was influenced by the right wing and tea party cries that democrats were trying to destroy the country with socialism and amnesty for illegals, I think that might have only influenced his target. This kid was paranoid and crazy, and this was going down some day, some where, unless someone intervened in his life and got him the help he needed. Nobody did. He was lucid enough to notice the Congresswoman's event, and so he guaranteed maximum impact by his choice of venues. This is not a political event, and I am gratified and moved by not only Speaker Boehner's words, but by his directing a hold on explosive house votes next week. I think the new Speaker understands a lot more than i have previously given him credit for.

But what I want to talk about is a currently nameless victim. She is a little girl, 9 years old. At the Safeway.

As they talk about the dead, the famous will be mourned, and the judge and staffers and dignitaries will be honored. But for me, the most tragic is the girl. Not to minimize the deaths of others, but her loss is by far the greatest in this senseless slaughter.

My youngest child is a 9 year old girl. Not everyone has a 9 year old girl, so let me tell you about mine. She is feisty, she has a 14 year old sister who she is very competitive with. She thinks she's better at sports and games than her, so when she loses in either, she tries harder.

She is principled. She loves animals, and is borderline PETA crazy on her activism. She will not eat meat, she is a vegetarian. Even though i tease her all the time that she is the only vegetarian in the world that hates most vegetables.

She is gifted. She played fall softball this year in a division with kids one and two years older than her. And she was the best player on the team.

She is smart. She is inquisitive, she wants to know about history, current events, why daddy why. She asks hard questions, and she doesn't accept evasive answers.

She is funny. Her competitive nature and rivalry with her sister has caused her to develop a sarcastic streak that will sometimes end the back and forth between them with ridiculous laughter.

She is as cute as a button. She has received gifts at professional sporting events from coaches on the field because they noticed her from the field, and she made them smile, baseballs from batting practice, a hat from a New York Giants coach.

But she is also sensitive and vulnerable. She is only 9. She needs to know that she is special despite how great her sister is. Because she has an older sister, she acts out for attention. She creates fights with her sister that she cannot win, and measures chores and discipline against what her sister gets, and unsuccessfully tries to apply her analysis about fairness to what is being required.

But she is an absolute joy. And makes me smile every day.

And if I took her to the Safeway, and I lost her for no good reason, I didn't just lose a nameless 9 year old kid. I lost all of the above. And the randomness of it would never allow me peace, because I would always question allowing her to take an extra minute to pet the dog, or refusing to let her have breakfast. And I would never find peace for the rest of my life.

I hope the Congresswoman survives. I grieve for the families of the dead. But I am sick to my stomach for the parents of that 9 year old girl. They will never recover from that loss. I know I never would. I don't pray hardly ever, but tonight, I pray for them.