We were stunned today to hear of the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson. As it stands now, she is out of surgery and expected to survive, even though she was shot in the head at a political event outside a grocery store in Tucson. Also as it stands now, 17 other people were shot and at least five of them were killed, including a 9 year old girl and a federal judge. The perpetrator of all this violence was said to be a young man, 21 or 22 years of age, armed with some type of automatic weapon. Amazingly in this day and age, he was taken into custody before he could do damage to himself.
This sad news brings me to think of other such tragedies. Too close together were the murders of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Senator Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and the wounding of Governor George Wallace. There also was the murder some years later of John Lennon. When all of those horrible acts took place, I was working as a newsman in radio and television. While I was thrown into the frantic scuffle of trying to report on those incidents it was also a sad and horrifying event for me as well as the great majority of my fellow Americans.
Will this madness never end?
When will we ever learn?
