Arizona Shooting Memorial Speech

AT "TOGETHER WE

THRIVE: TUCSON AND AMERICA,"

A MEMORIAL SERVICE

FOR

THE VICTIMS OF THE

SHOOTING IN TUCSON, ARIZONA

McKale Memorial

Center

University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

6:43 P.M. MST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank

you.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Please, please be

seated.  (Applause.)

To the families of those we've

lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the

public servants who are gathered here, the people of Tucson and the people of

Arizona:  I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans,

kneels to pray with you today and will stand by you tomorrow.  (Applause.)

There is nothing I can say that

will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts.  But know this:  The

hopes of a nation are here tonight.  We mourn with you for the

fallen.  We join you in your grief.  And we add our faith to yours

that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this

tragedy will pull through.  (Applause.)

Scripture tells us:

There is a river whose streams make

glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High

dwells.

God is within her, she will not

fall;

God will help her at break of day.

On Saturday morning, Gabby, her

staff and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise

their right to peaceful assembly and free speech.  (Applause.)  They

were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders --

representatives of the people answering questions to their constituents, so as

to carry their concerns back to our nation's capital.  Gabby called it

"Congress on Your Corner" -- just an updated version of government of and by

and for the people.  (Applause.)

And that quintessentially American

scene, that was the scene that was shattered by a gunman's bullets.  And

the six people who lost their lives on Saturday -- they, too, represented what

is best in us, what is best in America.  (Applause.)

Judge John Roll served our legal

system for nearly 40 years. (Applause.)  A graduate of this university and

a graduate of this law school -- (applause) -- Judge Roll was recommended for

the federal bench by John McCain 20 years ago -- (applause) -- appointed by President

George H.W. Bush and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge.

(Applause.)

His colleagues described him as the

hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit.  He was on his way back

from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi

to his representative.  John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his

three sons and his five beautiful grandchildren.  (Applause.)

George and Dorothy Morris -- "Dot"

to her friends -- were high school sweethearts who got married and had two

daughters.  They did everything together -- traveling the open road in

their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon.

Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their congresswoman had

to say.  When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively

tried to shield his wife.  (Applause.)  Both were shot.  Dot

passed away.

A New Jersey native, Phyllis

Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow.  But in the summer, she would

return East, where her world revolved around her three children, her seven

grandchildren and 2-year-old great-granddaughter.  A gifted quilter, she'd

often work under a favorite tree, or sometimes she'd sew aprons with the logos

of the Jets and the Giants -- (laughter) -- to give out at the church where she

volunteered.  A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get

to know her better.  (Applause.)

Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in

Tucson together -- about 70 years ago.  They moved apart and started their

own respective families.  But after both were widowed they found their way

back here, to, as one of Mavy's daughters put it, "be boyfriend and girlfriend

again."  (Laughter.)

When they weren't out on the road

in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in

need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ.  A retired construction

worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with his dog,

Tux.  His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife,

sacrificing his life for hers.  (Applause.)

Everything -- everything -- Gabe

Zimmerman did, he did with passion.  (Applause.)  But his true

passion was helping people.  As Gabby's outreach director, he made the

cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got

the Medicare benefits that they had earned, that veterans got the medals and

the care that they deserved, that government was working for ordinary

folks.  He died doing what he loved -- talking with people and seeing how

he could help.  And Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his

brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.

(Applause.)

And then there is nine-year-old

Christina Taylor Green.  Christina was an A student; she was a dancer; she

was a gymnast; she was a swimmer.  She decided that she wanted to be the

first woman to play in the Major Leagues, and as the only girl on her Little

League team, no one put it past her.  (Applause.)

She showed an appreciation for life

uncommon for a girl her age.  She'd remind her mother, "We are so

blessed.  We have the best life."  And she'd pay those blessings back

by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.

Our hearts are broken by their

sudden passing.  Our hearts are broken -- and yet, our hearts also have

reason for fullness.

Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans

who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see

on Saturday.

I have just come from the

University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby

courageously fights to recover even as we speak.  And I want to tell you

-- her husband Mark is here and he allows me to share this with you -- right

after we went to visit, a few minutes after we left her room and some of her

colleagues in Congress were in the room, Gabby opened her eyes for the first

time.  (Applause.)  Gabby opened her eyes for the first time.

(Applause.)

Gabby opened her eyes.  Gabby

opened her eyes, so I can tell you she knows we are here.  She knows we

love her.  And she knows that we are rooting for her through what is

undoubtedly going to be a difficult journey.  We are there for her.

(Applause.)

Our hearts are full of thanks for

that good news, and our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved

others.  We are grateful to Daniel Hernandez -- (applause) -- a volunteer

in Gabby's office.  (Applause.)

And, Daniel, I'm sorry, you may

deny it, but we've decided you are a hero because -- (applause) -- you ran

through the chaos to minister to your boss, and tended to her wounds and helped

keep her alive.  (Applause.)

We are grateful to the men who

tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload.  (Applause.)  Right over

there.  (Applause.)  We are grateful for petite Patricia Maisch, who

wrestled away the killer's ammunition, and undoubtedly saved some lives.

(Applause.)  And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and first

responders who worked wonders to heal those who'd been hurt.  We are

grateful to them.  (Applause.)

These men and women remind us that

heroism is found not only on the fields of battle.  They remind us that

heroism does not require special training or physical strength.  Heroism

is here, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, all around us, just

waiting to be summoned -- as it was on Saturday morning. Their actions, their

selflessness poses a challenge to each of us.  It raises a question of

what, beyond prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going

forward.  How can we honor the fallen?  How can we be true to their

memory?

You see, when a tragedy like this

strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations -- to try and pose

some order on the chaos and make sense out of that which seems senseless.

Already we've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the

motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun

safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system.  And much of this

process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the

future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.

But at a time when our discourse

has become so sharply polarized -- at a time when we are far too eager to lay

the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think

differently than we do -- it's important for us to pause for a moment and make

sure that we're talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that

wounds.  (Applause.)

Scripture tells us that there is

evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human

understanding. In the words of Job, "When I looked for light, then came

darkness."  Bad things happen, and we have to guard against simple

explanations in the aftermath.

For the truth is none of us can

know exactly what triggered this vicious attack.  None of us can know with

any certainty what might have stopped these shots from being fired, or what

thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind.  Yes, we

have to examine all the facts behind this tragedy.  We cannot and will not

be passive in the face of such violence.  We should be willing to

challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of such violence in

the future.  (Applause.)  But what we cannot do is use this tragedy

as one more occasion to turn on each other.  (Applause.)  That we

cannot do.  (Applause.)  That we cannot do.

As we discuss these issues, let

each of us do so with a good dose of humility.  Rather than pointing

fingers or assigning blame, let's use this occasion to expand our moral

imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts

for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are

bound together.  (Applause.)

After all, that's what most of us

do when we lose somebody in our family -- especially if the loss is

unexpected.  We're shaken out of our routines.  We're forced to look

inward.  We reflect on the past:  Did we spend enough time with an

aging parent, we wonder.  Did we express our gratitude for all the

sacrifices that they made for us?  Did we tell a spouse just how

desperately we loved them, not just once in a while but every single day?

So sudden loss causes us to look

backward -- but it also forces us to look forward; to reflect on the present

and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our

relationships with those who are still with us.  (Applause.)

We may ask ourselves if we've shown

enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives.

Perhaps we question whether we're doing right by our children, or our

community, whether our priorities are in order.

We recognize our own mortality, and

we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters

is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -- but rather, how well we have

loved -- (applause)-- and what small part we have played in making the lives of

other people better.  (Applause.)

And that process -- that process of

reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions -- that, I

believe, is what a tragedy like this requires.

For those who were harmed, those

who were killed -- they are part of our family, an American family 300 million

strong. (Applause.)  We may not have known them personally, but surely we

see ourselves in them.  In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense

the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life

partners.  Phyllis -- she's our mom or our grandma; Gabe our brother or

son.  (Applause.)  In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who

prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America's

fidelity to the law. (Applause.)

And in Gabby -- in Gabby, we see a

reflection of our public-spiritedness; that desire to participate in that

sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and

never-ending process to form a more perfect union.  (Applause.)

And in Christina -- in Christina we

see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic, so full of

magic.  So deserving of our love.  And so deserving of our good

example.

If this tragedy prompts reflection

and debate -- as it should -- let's make sure it's worthy of those we have

lost.  (Applause.)  Let's make sure it's not on the usual plane of

politics and point-scoring and pettiness that drifts away in the next news

cycle.

The loss of these wonderful people

should make every one of us strive to be better.  To be better in our

private lives, to be better friends and neighbors and coworkers and

parents.  And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps

usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because

a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy -- it did not -- but rather

because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to

the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud.

(Applause.)

We should be civil because we want

to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords,

who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question

each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country and that

our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so

that we bequeath the American Dream to future generations.  (Applause.)

They believed -- they believed, and

I believe that we can be better.  Those who died here, those who saved

life here -- they help me believe.  We may not be able to stop all evil in

the world, but I know that how we treat one another, that's entirely up to

us.  (Applause.)

And I believe that for all our

imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that

divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.  (Applause.)

That's what I believe, in part

because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed.

(Applause.)

Imagine -- imagine for a moment,

here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just

beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to

glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her

nation's future.  She had been elected to her student council.  She

saw public service as something exciting and hopeful.  She was off to meet

her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a

role model.  She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the

cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want to live up to her

expectations.  (Applause.)  I want our democracy to be as good as

Christina imagined it.  I want America to be as good as she imagined

it.  (Applause.)  All of us -- we should do everything we can to make

sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.  (Applause.)

As has already been mentioned,

Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that

day to be pictured in a book called "Faces of Hope."  On either side of

her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child's life.  "I hope you

help those in need," read one.  "I hope you know all the words to the

National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart."  (Applause.)

"I hope you jump in rain puddles."

If there are rain puddles in

Heaven, Christina is jumping in them today.  (Applause.)  And here on

this Earth -- here on this Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and we

commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of

her gentle, happy spirit.

May God bless and keep those we've

lost in restful and eternal peace.  May He love and watch over the

survivors.  And may He bless the United States of America.

(Applause.)

President Obama used a speech at a memorial for those killed and wounded in the Arizona shootings last weekend to call for a different type of political debate in the future. Acknowledging that no one can know exactly why this shooting rampage occurred, Mr. Obama said the goal should be ...