My First Verse: Reflecting on the Shooting in Tuscon

Vitriole. It is a noun defined as cruel and bitter criticism. It is a word that was rarely used by the media before an allegedly mentally disturbed young man fired fatal shots at a "Congress on your Corner" event in Tuscon, Arizona. However, now that the alarms have sounded to the tune of gun shots and people have died as a result, the word sounds much more familiar than initially anticipated. Identifying the underlying tone of anger and volatility that has sprouted beneath present-day political rhetoric as vitriole is merely a diagnosis. It is putting a name to a sentiment that hyper-conscious, educated Americans started to feel years, if not decades ago.

It should not be forgotten that vitriole is also a word for sulfuric acid. It is a chemical that industrialized societies heavily rely on, but one that is known for how vicious and corrosive it can be when mixed with the wrong thing. And just as the media is identifying the bitter rhetoric utilized by extremists from the left and the right, most specifically in the Tea Party and other right-winged movements, we are seeing the result of allowing the chemical of uninformed disdain spread through the veins of our national conversation.

Debate, protest, freedom of speech and anger are all essential to the preservation of a true democracy. However, what about compromise at the end of the debate? What about peace in the protest? What about judiciousness and moderation in freedom of speech? And where is the pride, the unity, the patriotism that is supposed to trump the anger?

As grateful as we are for our aging democracy and as beneficial as the growth of technology and the media have been for mankind, it is difficult to look at the world we live in now and not question if we are the nation that we want to be. Do we want to live in such paranoia that we allow for the government to encroach on those very freedoms that these random acts of violence supposedly seek to advocate? No. Do we want to feel as though compromise is a thing of the past and that the only realms of thought worth entertaining are the extremities? No. Do we want to encourage the use of violence against public servants and each other when communicating, voting, and collaborating has proven to be rather productive in the past? I doubt it.

Our democracy has spun out of control into a clusterfuck of fear, complacency and misinformation. We are living in a state of emergency with packages flaring up at mayors' mansions and bullets penetrating the brains of our public servants. And we are the ones to blame. Each and every individual, on the right, the left or in the middle, is to blame. We tune into the biased news channels, we read the inflammatory blogs, we give the extremist groups air time and allow their spinned perspectives of reality to camouflage itself among what is actually real. We are a classic case of Kitty Genovese syndrome. We are all bystanders, failing to call foul as lady liberty, our mother America, is drowned in acidic rhetoric.

As with every tragedy that our nation faces, I sincerely hope that the incident in Tuscon is viewed as an opportunity to change. It may be too late for the victims. But I truly believe that it is not too late for the rest of us.