The Good People Of Tucson
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Thursday, January 20, 2011 2:00 PM
It is terribly sad that it often takes an awful event to illuminate the incredible goodness all around us and how much we have to be grateful for.
A family in my neighborhood lost their home in a fire two nights ago. We all heard the sirens in the middle of the night and later heard the terrible news.
Four children were involved, one now sadly passed away, one fighting for life, two in critical condition but expected to recover.
In my inbox this morning were a series of emails from friends and from the neighborhood listserve which make me proud of my neighbors and our community. Concern; prayers; collections of money and other practical aid. The Catholic school and the public school are doing a joint fundraiser. Civic debates are set aside. Everyone is rushing to help. Everyone is enveloping the family in their care.
I’m proud of my neighbors, and it moves me to say I’m proud of those poor people who were shot January 8 in Tucson, too.
Here’s what I notice about that scene.
It was a “Congress on Your Corner” meeting outside a local Safeway. Which tells me a member of Congress was doing what she ought to do—stay in touch with the people she represents—and a local business was allowing use of its space for the good of the community.
Who was present at this meeting? Men and women, whites & Hispanics, a Conservative Catholic judge checking in with his Democratic Jewish friend.
Decent people in a decent community were engaging in wholesome civic activity and interaction.
Then something unforeseen, random and awful took place.
How did people behave? The judge took a bullet for another man. A husband made himself a human shield for his wife, giving his life for her. Three people—a young man, a 70-yr-old, and a middle-aged woman—rushed the gunman, subduing him. A married doctor and nurse doing their grocery shopping performed triage on the scene.
What happened in Tucson was a tragedy, but it was in no way a sorry scene of anger and incivility for which we should be ashamed. Decent people in a sudden crisis showed their mettle. That is what America is made of. There is a preponderance of decency, courage and nobility on the part of our fellow citizens, and when fire or lunatic strikes, you’re glad to have them in your corner.
The public debate that’s been raging for two full weeks now in the op-eds, the blogposts, the tweets? It feels contrived to me. “Virtual” reality, without reference to actual people and what they actually did.
I confess I’m a little drained by a public discourse in which we’re not allowed to notice goodness, kindness, valor and wholesome community right before our eyes. I could wish anyone at all who commented on events in Tucson within the first five days could have had better impulse control and thought, “Good people have died, now is not the time.” Or that the commentariat in general could have resisted the urge to make that terrible day about them. It was never about them.
Of course we pray for those still recovering and mourn with the grieving. But I also take heart from what happened in Tucson.
The lunatic is not the story. The wonderful ordinary people are.
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