I once shopped at a Safeway in my Tucson neighborhood. Today, a mentally ill young man - nearly a boy - opened fire on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a group of people outside that Safeway. Yellow police ribbons drape the parking lot I once parked in. Six people died there, including a 9-year-old girl, a federal judge and one of Gifford's staff. At least ten people were wounded.
Giffords has been able to respond to doctors even though she was shot in the head. As I write this, the Pima County sheriff is exploring the possibility that there was an accomplice. What is known is that the killer left messages on internet sites in which he expressed violent fears and viewpoints that seem to indicate he is seriously ill. What I also know is that he developed his plan - and acted - in a growing atmosphere of viciousness in America. If you doubt that, go to the CNN, Yahoo, Fox and other major news media and read the comments that following the on-going reports on this story.
I don't mention my connection with that Safeway lightly. We all shop somewhere. This attack could have occurred in front of your favorite supermarket. We are all in the crosshairs. Knowing that, I call on Sarah, Michelle and you to join me in a small action against violence - that is, the casual use of violent images, violent language, violent metaphor. No more cross-hairs. No more threatening bitch slaps. No more watching unmoved as our children and grand-children play with guns. There are hundreds of other "no mores". You have your own.
I was walking in my desert chapel this evening after I heard the news about the Tucson shootings. I walked on dark sand between sage and juniper, climbed a little basalt out-cropping and sat facing clouds gone silver with sunset. I was surrounded by color, subtle, shifting. I thought about Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama, about the media's division of the country into Red states and Blue states. I realized that red and blue make purple and knew what I would do.
Tomorrow I'll buy a spool of purple ribbon and cut it into lengths. I'll pin one length on my coat and carry the others in my pocket with a box of pins. When someone asks me why I'm wearing a purple ribbon, I'll tell them that red and blue make purple and that women united can make a difference against viciousness. Please join me in this action.
Thirty+ years ago, Marshal McLuhan wrote: "When people get close together, they get more and more savage, impatient with each other. The global village is a place of very arduous interfaces and very abrasive situations." Thirty-five years ago Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan co-founded Community of Peace People, an organization dedicated to peaceful resolution of the violence shredding Ireland. It is time again for women to take a lead and it is the same cyber-connections that can be put to vicious use that can spread the message.
Sarah, Michelle, sisters, we can make a difference. Purple ribbon. Pins. Intention. These can be our tools. Not our weapon, our tools. Please join me. We are already all together in the crosshairs.
And, if you see the sense (and heart) in this simple action, please post links to this post on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, whatever social network you use.
Purple ribbon image from: http://safeshelter.net/2009/10/the-symbolism-of-the-purple-ribbon/
