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Sparkle (4)
You can read the Huffington Post's take on it, or you can try to find the head of the Republican party in Pima County defending himself on CNN -- for raffling a Glock as a fundraiser. The same type of gun used by the shooter on January 8th in the Safeway parking lot, the same kind of weapon that injured my Congresswoman and killed the 9 year old who was holding my hand.
Or you can just see what the hoopla is all about by looking at this screenshot of the Pima County Republican party's eTracks:
I'm 23 hours late to the party, it seems. I was finishing my physical therapy when I saw the story on the flat screen on the wall in front of the stationary bike.
I started to shake. I started to cry. I don't do that in public. The therapist reached for my hand and we stood there, mesmerized, as I felt the blanket were being pulled out from under me.
Not a rug, used for stepping on. The blanket of love, of protection, of wanting to help me to feel better and to get better and to do better was gone. It vanished in an instant as I saw the weapon that created the need for all this cossetting at the centerpiece of a fundraising program.
Are they tone deaf? I thought it, I heard others saying it, I read it on Facebook and Twitter and I'm still wondering. I came right home and called the Arizona GOP Headquarters and I asked them. I wondered if there were someone there who could tell me why this was a good idea. I was willing to listen, I said, because I had a broken heart and I needed an explanation.
There was no one there who could talk to me.
I identified myself, again. I reminded him about Christina. I kinda sorta lost it on the phone and through my tears I asked him how it felt to have made me cry. Perhaps (okay, really and truly) I was a little over the top, but in my defense it was real and it was raw and it was how their actions had impacted an Arizonan. I thought they should know. I left my name and phone number. It's after close of business; I'm still waiting to hear from someone.
The kind woman at the Pima County GOP knew who I was and I could tell from her voice that she, too, was really sorry about what had happened. She was a Tucsonan and this happened to all of us and we were all fairly brittle. She apologized that everyone - "really, every single one" -- was talking to the television people but I'm sure that she did as she promised and passed my request for an explanation along to the appropriate person. She's a Tucsonan.
My husband and I went out to lunch and I kept crying.... at intervals.... but crying. He had that I wish I could make this all go away face on and that just made me even sadder. This wasn't about gun rights. This has nothing to do with the 2nd Amendment. This has to do with Civility, Respect and Understanding, what has come to be the central theme of the tragedy. This has to do with making me feel alone.
You have read it here, and my friends and neighbors and strangers have heard me say it in person, but it bears repeating again and again -- the love I have felt over these last 8 months has been the single biggest factor in my healing. Once my life was saved and I was on the mend, I could lean into the warm and comforting arms of my town, my county, my state and feel safe. Everyone cared. People stopped what they were doing to hug me. Reporters were kind and strangers offered me prayers and smiles and encouragement.
Tea Party t-shirt wearers sent me get well cards. Gun owners wished me godspeed. Those messages warmed my heart. I wasn't alone. People on all ends of the spectrum were on my side. For some reason I need you to understand that this isn't a 2nd
