Tucson does offer lessons for America
Published 9:37 am Friday, January 14, 2011
The Tucson, Ariz., memorial service was valuable to honor those who died and those who experienced loss. It was valuable to note the courageous acts of those who, like 74-year-old Bill Badger, was grazed by a bullet but held the killer down, and acted without caution for the good of all there. His wife said what certainly must be true of the retired Army Colonel “My husband was born a hero.”
And our president was at his best in confronting the insane act of one against the lives and harm to so many, both those directly attacked and the families, friends, and Americans who seek sense from these senseless murders.
In the end there was no sense to be found in this tragedy, no moral to the story, no clear lesson to the nation.
Republican conservatives are not responsible for this.
Sarah Palin is not responsible. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity nor even Glen Beck are responsible.
Only the killer was responsible.
And yet there were messages for America to be found in Tucson.
The first is that we live in an age where we cannot ignore nor avoid the reality that random acts of violence may take our lives, or the lives of those we love.
And neither the greatest military, nor the plans of Homeland Security can protect us to perfection.
We can and have spent untold billions of dollars to be safe, but we can only be safer, never safe.
Life is fragile, and to be lived in the moment fully, for its abruptness is ever present.
Second, no one can doubt the courage of ordinary Americans.
Not after watching first responders rush toward the falling World Trade Center on 9/11, nor after hearing the heroic stories of those who charged into danger to subdue the Tucson killer.
We are a people blessed with fellow citizens who will willingly sacrifice themselves for others without thought of their own safety.
Third, a lesson of concern has arisen in the post-tragedy national dialogue. Unlike so many previous occasions that brought Americans together through tragedy, the Tucson attacks brought only more political division.
The president addressed that and asked us to speak to each other in ways that heal, not wound. But that lesson will take time to learn and must bridge a gap that has been widening, not narrowing, in our national dialogue.
Post-modern philosophers saw this division coming in the 1970s, when they warned us that Western societies were losing what they termed the Metanarrative.
The Metanarrative is the sense of trust in people and institutions that permits a society to act in good faith that others will do and be what they present themselves to be and to act accordingly.
In America a segment of our people have lost trust in our media; have come to distrust our universities and our scientists; have come to believe that all government is less than inept, is somehow tearing the fabric of the nation apart.
This distrust shapes our political dialogue, denying a common ground to conduct debate. How can we, as a nation, consider the possible implications of global climate change when some trust neither the scientists who study the phenomena nor the politicians who plan a response to its potential, nor the media that reports what the scientists and politicians believe.
Climate change is but one example, the loss of trust spans the spectrum of issues in America today, paralyzing the nation from resolving its challenges and responding to the needs of the nation.
Let us hope our President and our leaders can indeed help restore civility and trust to our national dialogue. Maybe in this way the tragedy of Tucson can find its meaning to the nation.
Jim Crawford is a contributing columnist for The Tribune and a former educator at Ohio University Southern.