Sunday, January 09, 2011

Christina-Taylor Green: An American Martyr?

For some reason, the littlest victim of sicko Jared Lee Loughner's shooting spree in Arizona is the one that seems to have the most importance to me. While the focus is on Congresswoman Giffords, and all the usual suspects are trying to make this about shutting down the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, and the Republican opposition, it is Christina's short life that seems to have the most symbolic significance. If God was going to make "an American martyr", could he do better than this young girl, born on 9/11, the scion of a baseball legend, and herself an aspiring politician and leader, who died trying to meet her Congresswoman in a local supermarket? And possibly, based on her mother's reflections below, proudly wearing our nation's colors during her last moments of life?
Weep and wonder with me:

Aspiring politician Christina-Taylor Green was born in the midst of tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001, and died Saturday morning while trying to meet Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Christina-Taylor had just been elected to the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School and had been interested in politics from a young age, her father, John Green, said Saturday night.

She also loved animals and was a passionate dancer who loved ballet, hip-hop, jazz and gymnastics and was the only girl on her Canyon del Oro Little League baseball team, "The Pirates." She played second base.
Christina-Taylor came from a family of baseball players. Her grandfather, former major-league pitcher Dallas Green, was team manager for the Philadelphia Phillies when they won the World Series in 1980.

Christina-Taylor also enjoyed singing in a church choir at St. Odilia's Catholic Church, where she had received her first Holy Communion in the spring.

Her birth date no doubt helped inspire Christina-Taylor's interest in politics, Roxanna Green said. She was one of 50 9/11 babies featured in a book called "Faces of Hope."

"She was born back east and Sept. 11 affected everyone there, and Christina-Taylor was always very aware of it. She was very patriotic and wearing red, white and blue was really special to her," her mother said
.

"She was all about helping people, and being involved. It's so tragic. She went to learn today and then someone with so much hatred in their heart took the lives of innocent people."

“From the very beginning, she was an amazing child,” her mother said. “She was very bright, very mature, off the charts. She was the brightest thing that happened that day.”

I offer no words of comfort, because none can ever heal the heart of a parent who has lost a child so. I myself will simply meditate a while on this child's life, from the upheaval on that horrific day in September when she first came into this world, to the chaos of January 8th, 2011, when she left us in a hail of gunfire.

I believe there is a message God is directly sending us - the American people - through her short and significant life. I will let you know if I ever believe I have figured it out. In the meantime, I mourn, and offer the only words I can: I'm sorry.

And I pray that God is holding His little messenger as close to His bosom as He can...

5 comments:

niteskolar said...

A wonderful tribute.

Anonymous said...

There is another one like Christina Taylor Green: Scott Calvin Dieter, the Angel of Copley, Ohio. Dieter was born in Russia and he was the adoptive son of a former United States Army Captain Craig Brian Eric and Beth Ann (Laufer) Dieter. The gunman of Dieter was shot dead by Ben (never "Benjamin") A. Campbell. Campbell said, "I am not a hero, I am just a policeman."

Anonymous said...

There is another one like Christina Taylor Green: Charlotte Helen Bacon. She and 19 other children were shot dead in Sandy Hook and she was born on Washington's birthday. There is a hero: Jesse McCord Lewis. Lewis gave his life saving his friends in Sandy Hook!

Anonymous said...

There is another one like Christina Taylor Green: Ana Marquez-Greene. Greene was shot dead and she was born on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's death. She was the only black student in Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Anonymous said...

There is another one like Christina Taylor Green: Ana Grace Marquez-Greene. Greene was shot dead and she was born on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's death. She was the only black student in Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. God bless.