As the script goes, it’s the bad-seed criminal that garners the headlines, as we focus on the crazy, and “what went wrong.” But a moment more, please, about what went right in Tucson. About the good that was sown.
Details about the shooter, like his self-portrait G-string and glock photos, and his rambling videos, don’t shed light. Since the suspect is mentally ill, the search for “motivation” among all of his messages is a waste of time.
Still, he will always get more coverage than his victims. Even though it’s from them we can actually learn.
Details about Christina Taylor Green’s life, for example, is a counter-balance to meaningless details.
Thinking of others, especially in the overwhelming moments of unimaginable loss and pain, is beyond the capacity of many humans. But in the face of the shocking, violent death of their daughter, John and Roxanne Green made the generous decision to donate Christina’s organs.
Days before President Obama urged Americans to honor the memory of the 9-year-old victim by living up to “her expectations” of our democracy, Christina’s parents fulfilled the girl’s desire to help those less fortunate than herself, and illustrated, through that act, how they helped shaped the character of the young girl who was destined to touch our hearts.
Over the weekend it was announced that at a young girl in the Boston area received at least one of Christina’s organs.
John Green told the Boston Globe that the call “really lifted” his spirit and said he and his wife are proud parents once again of their daughter, “who has done another amazing thing.”
“It was very poignant to find out. That’s what Christina was all about,” John Green said. “It’s a blessing.”
It is a blessing. And if that is what Christina was all about — and there is no doubt — it is also because that is what her parents are all about, in their words and actions.
At the memorial service for the shooting victims, President Obama said, “We are full of decency and goodness, and the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.
“That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed.”
The reason Christina Taylor Green believed in decency and goodness is because of the loving instruction and example she received from her parents. Obama said Christina should be an inspiration for all Americans. She is. And so are her parents, John and Roxanne, who, in the moments separating their daughter’s life and death, chose to generously give to others. Further sowing the entire Green family’s goodwill.
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