Remembering Christina Taylor Green
The January 8 shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has the country discussing topics ranging from untreated mental illness to violent political rhetoric. But in the midst of our shock and anger at this senseless act and as we wait for more updates on Giffords’ recovery let us not forget to honor those who lost their lives.
After a gunman, believed to have been 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, open fired at a town hall-style meeting Saturday at a grocery store in Tuscon, Ariz., 14 people were injured and six people were left dead, including 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.
In a news report yesterday, Christina was described as a precocious girl with an advanced vocabulary. She had recently been elected to the student council at her elementary school and was very interested in government. That’s why she was so eager to attend Saturday’s event. Christina once told her parents she wanted to attend Penn State and have a career that involved helping the less fortunate.
Schoolmates and their parents remember Christina as a kind and happy girl who was always smiling. She was also quite the athlete. She was the only girl on her Little League baseball team and had dreams of being the first woman to play major league baseball, showing that perhaps she was a little feminist-in-training too.
Christina Taylor Green was born on Sept. 11, 2001, which means her life began and ended on a day of American tragedy. But during those nine years in between Christina lived her life in a way that will continue to inspire hope.
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