Saturday, January 15, 2011

Two Personal Notes from the Tucson Shootings

Aside from what I had to say last week and today, and will have to say tomorrow, about this horrible event, I wanted to share two tidbits that are important, but neither of which stands on its own as a blog post.

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The first is that I'd like to extend my prayers and well-wishes to fellow blogger Ashleigh Burroughs.  I don't know Ashleigh personally, but she and I are both part of the BlogHer network, which sponsors our blogs and links the writing of female bloggers (supposedly quality writing, but then they include me so who knows) across the Internet.  From time to time my sidebar includes links to her blog, "The Burrow," and hers to mine.  When my traffic statistics show people coming here from ashleighburroughs.blogspot.com, I always think, "Thanks, Ashleigh!" even though I know the link was automatically generated.

Ashleigh was at the front of the line to shake Gabrielle Gifford's hand last Saturday when the shooting started.  She was shot three times but, thankfully, survived.  I wanted to publicly recognize Ashleigh and her family, and the difficult road they are on right now.  Life has a funny way of linking people, and I take Ashleigh's shooting more personally than any of the other victims.  It adds a "that could have been me" aspect that is both scary and tender.  I'm keeping Ashleigh and her family in my prayers today and hope that you will, too.

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The second is that I'd like to share with you what I think is the best commentary on the shooting out there.  It might come as no surprise, given the polarization and dumbing down of our public remarks these days that it comes from Jon Stewart of the Daily Show.  I urge you to watch it, if only to aid in the healing of this wound to our collective psyche.  (The clip begins with a rather amusing bit by John Oliver -- stick with it through that to get to the commentary.)


2 comments:

Colleen said...

I didn't know that DH was watching the Jon Stewart clip because you linked to it.....but I was immediately struck by how much I'd bet you liked it! I agree.....it's the best one so far.

Ashleigh Burroughs said...

Thanks, Naomi, for the kind words and the shout-out (for The Burrow and BlogHer). I am rereading my older Getting Shot posts and found your comment and link.

The blogosphere has truly helped me heal. Thanks for being a part of it.
a/b

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Naomi Zikmund-Fisher
is a clinical social worker, former school Principal and a Crisis Consultant for schools and community organizations. You can learn more about her at www.SchoolCrisisConsultant.com
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