Peace.

On January 8, 2011, a symbol of hope died.

Christina Taylor Green was 9 years old. She was born on September 11, 2001.

She, and everyone else born on that day, were looked upon, by the people of America, as proof that even in the most chaotic situations, fuelled by hatred and pain and anger, there was still hope. There was still life.

And she was killed today, in Tucson, Arizona, in a botched assassination attempt. Along with 5 other people.

Judge John Roll.

Gabe Zimmerman.

Dorwin Stoddard.

Dorothy Murray.

Phyllis Scheck.

I'm trying really hard not to make this political. I don't want to degrade it to that level. I want to focus on the fact that there was life. That there existed here life and love and hope, and it's gone now. And I'm really sorry I gave top billing to this little girl, because yes it is tragic that she was killed, but other people were killed too.

It took me so long to find the names of any of the victims that weren't her or Judge John Roll. But I found them. Because their names, their lives, are just as important as the two the press have leapt upon.

I don't want to be angry or hateful about this. I really don't. But I read the profile of the shooter.

Jared Lee Loughner.

He was only a kid, 22 years young. He made some videos on youtube. He seems like a smart guy, he talked about the new currency of ideas, he talked of libertarianism, he talked about grammar structures, and about words losing their meaning. Interspersed within this, interwoven, is ideas of racism, xenophobia, classism.

I don't want these words to lose their meaning in repetition, because this man, this boy, whatever, who I am not going to lie I am not going to disguise it I hate him, he represents everything I do not like, that I believe must be gone before we can go any further, he makes a good point.

"What's government if words have no meaning?"

Please. Please. Please let these words have meaning still.

Phyllis Scheck.

Dorwin Stoddard.

Gabe Zimmerman.

Judge John Roll.

Christina Taylor Green.

Dorothy Murray.

Peace.

That is all I ask.

Peace.