Dear America,

as a mom, today is dedicated to a young girl named Christina.

between the eerie circumstances of her happening to be attending the Gabrielle Giffords event on an every day sunny Tucson morning, to her already inspiring life's story cut short  -- having been born on 9/11! -- to the unspeakable brutality of her death by a mental case, to myself,  and running typical weekend errands with my own girl and looking over at her from time to time only to be thinking in my little head, oh thank you God for this moment, this day, this sliver of life shared with the one person I truly love the most.

I don't really know how a mother moves on after Saturday; but the reality is, tragedy happens to families around the world everyday, and somehow, eventually, with time, with care, with prayer, with God's grace, we find a way to do it.

Crushing my heart just as much in the fluid flash of events on Saturday, was the immediate rhetoric rising up, as if no one took a second to breathe, just instant reaction and over-reaction, with the venom and vitriol swaying to one's political vanity, and not even with all the facts in, or right.

quickly, we had the left blaming Sarah Palin...as if her "targeting" of districts made him do it;  as her activism in the last electoral battle dictated taking the rule of law into one's own hands;  as if she was somehow, part and parcel, of the horrific crime itself;  and almost, as if she advocated violence and condoned such behavior through and through.  Does the left really believe that using the word 'target', or using a symbolic icon to demonstrate it, carries that much weight?

See article in POLITICO on Sarah here.

I guess, first, someone should get right on suing Target for their name alone (right, not the first time Target has been the target); second, anytime a company uses the word "target", for advertising campaigns, number of sales or revenue goals, or expansion of commercial territories, the process of doing that should be re-branded and changed to support a more peaceful, accommodating regime; perhaps also, anytime the DNC or GOP wish to target regional elections, they will have to call it something else.  Matter of fact, how about we just put "target" on a list of words politically incorrect and unacceptable by today's standards...and simply take it out of circulation altogether, hate to have anyone get the wrong idea, the wrong message.

I guess, we should also take a moment to reexamine the words of our very own president, when he very methodically and thoughtfully remarked, when directly addressing his base no less, when he said this in an interview with George Stephanopoulos  -- "If Latinos sit out the election, instead of saying we're going to punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us..."

Calling republicans the enemy point blank?  and 'punish' -- what does that really mean?  and he gets a pass?  (no, the careless remark didn't go entirely unnoticed, but in such times, how quickly the left forgets, rhetoric swings both ways)  But isn't it up to us, as responsible citizens, to use our own common sense, and not take things so literally, figuratively, partisan-ly...?

So even the sheriff jumped right in and blamed the tea party, did you catch any of that?  And when asked if he had proof, he said no, and unabashedly admitted, "that is my opinion. period."

Now, for a saving grace, go to this morning's Morning Bell from The Heritage Foundation, and read a complete thought on the matter, "Libel is No Path to a Civil Society."

The thing is, this country needs to be very careful on how we proceed from here.

And beginning with a simple matter of reminding ourselves not to believe everything you read on the internet...NPR, got it wrong, AP, got it wrong, Yahoo, got it wrong, even FOX News, wrong again -- huge outfits and respected journalists got it all wrong in reference to claiming Giffords had died, when in fact, she was in that moment in the operating room where doctors probably saved her life.  And a quality of life we have yet to know for sure, at that.

But instantly, whether working off of truth, lies, videotape or assumptions, the web was a buzz.

Myself, I am just surprised the playoffs continued; I mean, really, I love football, but there was just something wrong with the rest of Saturday being played out as if nothing ever happened, or was this feeling just peculiar to me?

Yeah, Seahawks.

Yahoo, Jets (but no, not really, so sad my Peyton is finished for the year)

Yeah cloud.

But honestly, how could we keep our attention on anything else but the neighborhood Safeway parking lot, that began like any other typical Saturday morning, but with a crowd gathered, in an event welcoming the community to meet the local congresswoman, liked and admired by all, both sides of the aisle, on a light and breezy, all things looking bright, sunny Tucson day?

Little Christina Green, nine years old, and one of the "Faces of Hope," a book chronicling the lives of fifty babies, one from each state, born on September 11, 2001 (and uncomfortably adding a strange twist of fate of one of these babies)  is said to have been an aspiring politician, and most likely, having recently entered into the student government arena, was set to follow many of  the same footsteps as Gabrielle Giffords for all we know -- Christina had every hope and dream to become the first female professional major league baseball player -- while oddly, we now know that her father made her a bacon and cheese omelet for breakfast, just before kissing her goodbye to attend the 'congresswoman on the corner' event with a neighbor (who, being shot four times, is also one of the victims holding on for dear life in the hospital).

America, we need to pay attention to what we say and how we say it, not in political correctness -- for that is so two thousand ten -- but in hopes that two thousand eleven rings in a kind of civility and communal kindness like none before.  Sure we have had good years, and bad -- we've been up, we've been down; we've seen systematic failure, we've experienced communication breakdown, we've  heard all the rhetoric up one side and down the other, we've seen the enemy and he is US! and then some.

This period we are in now is nothing new for America, period.

For it is all about rising above the challenge.

Just as we have done for centuries...times like beating back British rule, times like the Civil War and abolishing slavery for good, times like a woman's right to vote, times like The Great Depression, times like the Great Dust Bowl that went on and on, times like traversing across mountain ranges when no man had gone before, times that built bridges, tunnels, railroads and dams losing lives left and right, times like WWI and II losing lives in the hundreds of thousands, times like the civil rights - the sixties - and our dear Martin Luther King assassination, times like ending the Cold War and breaking down the Berlin Wall, times like the Space Shuttle -- ironically, named Challenger -- explosion, times like the Oklahoma bombing, Columbine, 9/11, Katrina, Haiti, Tsunami's, earthquakes, blizzards, floods and tornadoes and all  -- and now this.

THIS is another turning point. period.  How will you, personally, soulfully, thoughtfully respond -- and specifically, how will you change how you touch the lives of other people?  That is the only thing that matters now; it is all about ONE person, individually, but collectively none the less, responding to another tragedy here in America.

America is hanging on for dear life as we speak; and if I may be so bold, we better get this one right.

I have no doubt, the twinkling of politics in heaven has changed -- surely, Christina, has had a chance to do her thing by now; from daddy's little princess to America's Angel, your spirit will live on with us forever.

As we get the week started, may we unite in hope for the nation's recovery, may we pray for the lives lost, and may our thoughts come together for the betterment of the whole.

May this be the moment America shines right back, brighter than the day before.

Make it a Good Day, G