Tragedy in Tucson

What happened in Tucson this past Saturday was awful. We are both so sad for all those affected by this tragedy. This was such a senseless crime and I cannot understand what would make somebody so angry that they would kill innocent people.

Normally when things like this happen, we read the first few articles on it and maybe watch a story about it on the news, then we try and take a break from it all. After reading article after article and watching news program after news program about something like this, it really affects you. But this is different to us since we've both lived there and Greg grew up there. It's hard to distance yourself from something that happened in a place that you have a true connection with. It makes it that much more real and you realize that this type of thing can happen anywhere and to anybody. It's such a scary thought. It's easy to think that things like this don't happen where you live, but unfortunately they do. Greg went to the same high school as this guy, I worked at the hospital that Gabrielle Giffords is at right now, we've been to that Safeway many times, Greg's brother actually works at another Safeway in Tucson, and one of Greg's good friends was one of the paramedics pictured below that responded to the call. This event has definitely been weighing on our minds these past few days and I can't imagine what those affected are going through right now. One thing that made me feel good in during this awful time was an article I read on CNN.com about the residents of Tucson coming together to support the parents of the 9 year old girl that was killed. You can read the article here. Westboro Baptist "Church" (I don't know how these people call themselves Christians) is planning on protesting at the funeral, even though Arizona has banned picketing within 300 feet of funerals, they still plan to protest from 300 feet away. So, a group of Tucson residents are going to put up a human shield so that the family and friends attending the funeral will not have to see the protesters. I think that this is such a wonderful thing to do for the family of this little girl. They should not have to be subjected to the disguisting signs and the message that this church brings to funerals. Hearing stories about people doing nice things like this really helps me focus on the good in people and not on the bad, which can happen when you hear awful stories about people who go on shooting sprees.