Make That Change, Part II

For years whenever I thought of former Phillies manager Dallas Green I would remember my anger at him after a three-game series the Phillies played against the Mets during the summer of 1980. Green's analysis of the final game won by the Phils - which followed two Met wins - was that finally the Phillies had played like the Phillies and the Mets played like the Mets.

Not that he wasn't telling the truth...the Mets were pretty bad and the Phillies were about to win the World Series that fall...but I hated that he verbalized it in that manner. But now, thirty-one years later, when I think of Green I will begin to associate something else.

Dallas Green is the grandfather of Christina-Taylor Green, the nine-year-old killed in Tucson who was laid to rest last weekend. Naturally our prayers are that the Green family will be able to find healing and peace within their memories of Christina even in the wake of such a tragic event. But with that said, was it ironic that Christina's funeral was just prior to the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., yet another person whose life was senselessly and violently ended?

If someone wants to legally drive a car, they must essentially register with the government and pass a test which shows their fitness to operate a vehicle without endangering the lives of others. If someone wants to be a doctor, they must complete several years of schooling as well as an internship in order to show their ability to work in that field without endangering the lives of their patients.

If someone wants to be an attorney, they must complete their undergraduate program and law school, and then pass the bar exam showing them to be capable of working in that field. So why then could the accused shooter just walk into stores to pick up all of the ammo he wanted? Why can people walk into gun shows - as detailed on news reports - and often get firearms without background checks?

One can only hope that it will be this tragedy that finally propels us as a nation to seriously address the issue of gun violence.

Make That Change

Until a little under a week ago the saddest thing in Arizona of late was the so-quick eclipse of the Phoenix Suns. Then came the events of last Saturday morning...which served to jolt some of us back to reality.

In the wake of this tragedy, voices from across the political spectrum have called for a timeout and a reassessment of the way we speak about each other and our political differences. The one issue several conservatives have is their seeming inability to address the fact that they may be a part of the problem. One such individual is Rich Lowry of the National Review, whose column appeared the other day in the New York Post.

I definitely found myself in agreement with Mr. Lowry about the need for us to usher in a new era of civility. But it is a shame that it took a tragedy of this magnitude to bring us to this realization.

It's also a shame that we seem to have sunk to an unprecedented level of nastiness during these last two years or so. Don't get me wrong; to me, dissent is not only most welcome but truly patriotic...when sincere. Certainly 300 million people are not all going to agree on anything.

But when Rush Limbaugh openly roots for the President - the leader of our nation - to fail; when attendees at McCain-Palin rallies shout "kill him" - referring to Mr. Obama - and this misguided sentiment is not repudiated by Ms. Palin; when supposedly intelligent Republican members of Congress align themselves with crackpot racist birther theories which call into question the legitimacy of this President; when Sharron Angle advocates "second amendment remedies"; when Congressman Joe Wilson yells "you lie"; and when the SarahPAC map has the various Democrats' districts in a gun's cross hairs, we can only conclude that these people are collectively advancing a theory that things are drastically wrong and that drastic corrective action is needed. What kind of action? Could that depend on the mindset of the hearer or reader or viewer?

As it turns out, I had many differences with the policies of the Bush administration, as did many fellow Democrats and people on the left. But never did I wish failure upon President Bush; on the contrary, I wished that he would pursue avenues that would lead him to experience more success. And never did I dislike him because of his ethnicity; in fact, a baseball fan such as myself would probably enjoy an "orange juice summit" with Mr. Bush, the former Texas Rangers' owner. What I did not enjoy was what resulted from his policies.

So as conservatives get rather defensive about even discussing the possibility that their words have escalated the tone in this country, I feel that I can speak for virtually everyone else in saying that I know that these people I referred to earlier...as well as the rest of the right I didn't get to...had absolutely nothing to do with last week's shootings. That said, these people - and many others, for that matter - have contributed to the creation of a climate in which irrational and unstable people could theoretically take their words as calls to action. In order for us to "make that change" needed to usher in this new era of civility, they need to take a look at the "man in the mirror."