Gabrielle Giffords Wins One for all of Us

On January 8, 2011 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was holding a, “Congress on the Corner” meeting in the parking lot of a popular supermarket near Tucson, Arizona.  She is a three term representative from the 8^th District in Arizona and is a moderate Democrat.  Surrounded by constituents, she was approach by a vile, cowardly loser—whose name I refuse to mention—and shot, point blank in the head. 

            The miserable excuse of a man that shot Giffords then continued to fire wildly, hitting nineteen people and killing six of them, including a nine year old girl.  He was subdued by an amalgam of personal initiative.  One woman grabbed the loaded magazine of ammo he dropped while trying to reload.  Another bystander hit the gunman over the head with a folding chair, and a 74 year old retired U.S. Army Colonel, though wounded, tackled the assailant and threw him to the ground. 

            Giffords’ shooter was an insipid, worthless joke of a person.  Described as an atheist, antagonistic toward all organized religion, he had dropped out of junior college, was still living at home, and neither had, nor has accomplished a single thing of value in his entire wasted life.  Personally, I hope he spends the rest of his life being forgotten by everyone, except the very determined men using him for a sex toy in prison. 

            Gabrielle Giffords was whisked away to a hospital, already showing a spunky refusal to give in to the ravages of a bullet.  She was talking in the ambulance.  At the hospital the doctors had to remove part of her skull to prevent damage from swelling. She was also placed in a medically induced coma so her brain could rest and heal itself.  Her recovery has been nothing short of miraculous.  Her speech is halting and difficult, but her mind is sharp.  She is engaged in her duties as a Congresswoman as actively as in her recovery.  That commitment was made manifest on Monday, August 01, 2011.

            With our Congress showing itself at its worse, Gabrielle Giffords showed all of us what a winner looks like.  She is a tiny woman.  She is frail from her struggle.  After all, she has looked death in the face and made him back off.  But on Monday she walked into the House chamber and cast a vote for the bill to raise the debt ceiling.  In the midst of snotty little know-it-alls, manipulative politicos, and self-serving egos she came—at considerable pain and sacrifice—and did her job! 

             “I have closely followed the debate over our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed at what’s going on in Washington,” Giffords said, in a statement from her office. “After weeks of failed debate in Washington, I was pleased to see a solution to this crisis emerge. I strongly believe that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics. I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy.”

            There is more grace in that statement and her subsequent actions than I have seen from any member of this Congress for as long as I can remember.  And I believe something else, too.   When you take a bullet, point blank to the brain, and live; when you come back as mentally strong as you ever where and fight your way back to a useful life; I believe that God has put his hand on you for some good purpose.  This woman is destined for greatness.