Saturday, September 10, 2011

In Memoriam: Christina Taylor Green

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist


Christina Taylor Green would have been ten-years-old today.  She came into this world on the day that al-Qaeda brought down the World Trade Center and destroyed our sense of national serenity, and she departed this life last January as a victim in another national tragedy.   Christina was the youngest victim in the Tucson massacre at the "Congress on Your Corner" meet-and-greet event of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

There has been quite a bit written about the bright little girl who loved politics and had recently been elected to the student council of her elementary school.  Neighbors had invited her to go with them to the Giffords' event on that fateful day to meet her congresswoman and experience a bit of the democratic process.  Christina was standing in line waiting to greet Ms. Giffords when the gunman opened fire.  She died at the scene.

Christina had been featured in the book, "Faces of Hope, Babies Born on 9/11."

Christina's hope was snuffed out by a madman with a gun - in a state where guns are seen as a cold steel appendages  to individual liberty.  Her assassin, Jared Lee Loughner, was, according to accounts of his friends and associates, visibly crazy, yet he was able to walk into a sports retailer less than two months before the shooting and buy a 9mm Glock handgun with a 32-round clip.  Loughner managed to squeeze off 31 of those deadly rounds in just a few seconds on the morning of the shooting, and he had three 15-round clips held in reserve.  He bought the gun from one national retailer, and the ammunition from another - all without any hassle, all without any waiting.

And he was visibly nuts.

And America lost one of her young "faces of hope" because of Arizona's blatant refusal to use common sense in the sales of firearms and ammunition.

Wouldn't it be a wonderful tribute to Christina Taylor Green if all of America would choose to revisit the issue of guns and enact laws and regulations that would truly make us all safer by restricting gun sales and availability?  Sportsmen don't need automatic pistols that fire thirty-two rounds in seven seconds - and neither does Grandma.  Those guns serve only one purpose, and Jared Lee Loughner, though crazy, knew exactly what that purpose was.

Rest in peace, Christina.  May the tragedy of your passing help others to see and experience the importance of humanity, and to understand that we grow through love - not violence.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is another one like Christina Taylor Green: Scott Calvin Dieter, the Angel of Copley, Ohio. Dieter was born in Russia and he was the adoptive son of a former United States Army Captain Craig Brian Eric and Beth Ann (Laufer) Dieter. The gunman of Dieter was shot dead by Ben (never "Benjamin") A. Campbell. Campbell said, "I am not a hero, I am just a policeman."

Anonymous said...

There is another one like that: Jesse McCord Lewis. He paid the ultimate price by saving many children in Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Anonymous said...

So does, Victoria Leigh Soto! She gave her life saving others in Sandy Hook Elementary School.