Polarized Lens

SUNDAY, JANUARY 9, 2011

I am so deeply saddened by the event in Tucson that took 6 lives and forever altered 14 others. Yes, a lone gunman, strange and estranged, struck at an outstanding young woman in Congress and injured other innocents in his angry wake. With time, I may be able to forgive this person, though I suspect I shall never forgive the act. I'm just not that good a person.

I remember the assassination of JFK. I remember the shooting of Ronald Reagan. I remember the killing of John Lennon, and Bobby Kennedy. I remember the Oklahoma City bombing, and will vividly recall until my death the attacks of 9/11. In each of these previous horrors, there was a clear sense of national unity, a sense of, "Not here! Not us!", and the "us" meant each and every American, regardless of party, creed, ethnicity or the century in which we immigrated. I was so proud when my native Texan daughter stood before her assembled peers on 9/12/2001 and announced, "Today, we are all New Yorkers!"

Those same feelings were evident last night as the facts around the Tucson shooting crystallized. I pray for the victims and their families. I want to stand in the chill and dark, cupping a candle with my fellow Americans and long for peace, for healing, for hope. I applaud the House leadership decision to postpone legislative action this week. In our leaders, regardless of party, I sense the stature, the bearing, the pain and the understanding of the burdens borne by public officials in a democracy.

Today, much of that changed. The national response and discussion around this event has saddened and scared me. We have quickly polarized once again. Factions opposed to the 2008 legacy have used outrageous language and symbols to mobilize support for what is now the 2010 legacy. Those in support of the 2008 legacy have pointed that out, only to receive new rounds of verbal attack. And now, a little more than 24 hours after the assault, we, the collective American "we", seem to retreat to opposing, polarized camps from which we view this horrific event.

Clearly, no conservative of conscience would advocate the events of yesterday. Clearly, no liberal of conscience would blame a conservative for the events of yesterday. A lone gunman is to blame for the events yesterday. The victims were innocents, they were Americans, and they died or were wounded while attending a classic American event at a Safeway grocery store.

Equally clear, we have deep divides. Is it unreasonable in a rational democracy to ask how this gunman got his gun? I do not think so. Is it unreasonable in a rational democracy to ask if he was influenced by national media when taking the action he took? I do not think so. In fact, I think we must learn the answers to these questions in order to better ourselves and our neighbors, and in order to try this man as justly as we can under the laws of this land.

I know my view of the world is different from the views of others. That is OK. I would be horrified to think that I could somehow force others to intellectually share my views. If I had the power to do that I would never exercise it as I believe that the essence of being human, the essence of being a participant in a democracy, is the ability to think for myself and for you to think for yourself. My thoughts and beliefs are sacred to me. I assume and believe that your thoughts and beliefs are sacred to you, and I must respect that lest I become the grandest hypocrite of all time. So, while I view the world through the limits of my own thoughts, my own experiences, my own values and my own beliefs, I deeply honor the fact that you do the same and that in fact, my friends, you have no choice but to do the same. We will disagree on much and agree on much. Around those areas where we disagree, let us talk. Let us not go to war, let us not call each other names, let us not insult each other if one of us has the audacity to think differently.

If the lens by which you view the world polarizes you and somehow inhibits your ability to understand another view, then I ask again, as I have asked before, in what ways is that approach different from radical believers that advocate the destruction of informed discourse by the physical assault on those who dare to not think as they think?

Please remove your polarized lens so that I can see you for who you are and we can talk about our differences.

And please pray for the victims in Tucson and our democracy, if, that is, you believe in prayer.