Four years ago, mid-morning on January 8th, life in Tucson changed. We had actually been one of those towns before, but for whatever reasons, the label did not stick. October 29, 2002 was when a mass shooting, and mass murder, took place at the University of Arizona. But the attempted assassination of a Congressman and a death of little girl born on 9/11/2001 in the the mass shooting of 18 and death of six captured the nation’s attention, like so many other mass shootings.
My post on the day of the shooting is here,
My first post about survivor and blogger Suzi Hileman is here,
And from posts from:
January 8 2012: I did not write on the first anniversary. In that year I had started becoming acquainted with Ashleigh Burroughs who writes the blog, The Burrow, and felt that I just could not and should not write from Tucson about this event. This was a time for survivors to speak out if they so chose and that I had no right to write and be some sort of a vulture on the subject.
January 8, 2013
January 8, 2014
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Excerpt:from my blog: January 8, 2014 – Tucson
Today I cannot help but to remember how the Old Pueblo came together to support the families of six individuals who lost their lives, and the 12 who lived, but were injured. I remember standing vigil outside University Med Center down the street from my house at twilight and into the evening that day. A friend who is a minister led us in prayer. And I actually prayed and attempted to wrap the survivors in focused loving thoughts and life energy. I rarely ask God, the Goddess, the Universe for anything. The only prayer that means anything to me is a prayer to be vessel of good, of light and love.
Good comes from evil if enough of us choose to build it.
I now know a wonderful writer, another Tucson-based blogger, who was critically injured that day in Tucson. She almost died from her wounds. She just wanted to bring her little friend, a neighbor girl, to meet Gabby. If you want a real story of lives impacted by extended clips and semi-automatic weaponry, read her blog post today that is a letter to Christina-Taylor Green.
End of excerpt.
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The post that says it all:
went up yesterday on my friend’s site. My heart hurts for her, for so many.