Editorial: As The Country Mourned, Tucson Needed To Cheer

It’s been said President Obama paused fifty-three times last night in response to thunderous applause by 14,000 people gathered to witness his speech last night at the Tucson shooting memorial in Arizona.

The President commended the heroes of last Saturday’s shooting, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ intern of one week, Daniel Hernandez, Jr. The President lauded 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Green as a child who trusted her public officials, who looked up to her public servants and who aspired to do good works in this world as she grew up — an example of the expectations and demands of our children for their world and ours that we must live up to meet.

Each of those statements were met with a thunderous roar of applause and cheers from the 14,000 assembled at the University of Arizona, but the statement that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords had “opened her eyes” during the President’s impromptu visit at the University Medical Center was met with the largest — and longest — cheers and applause.

It wasn’t too long before the end of the 90 minute event, dubbed “Together We Thrive,” that the talking heads of national media began to criticize the reaction of the crowd — dubbing the event as more of a “pep rally” than a remembrance ceremony.

“The speech was great and the crowd was inappropriate,” FOX News commentator Glenn Beck said on his daily radio program. “The people [in the crowd], I don’t understand what happened. I don’t understand what happened.”

Another FOX commentator praised the President, but called the reaction from the crowd that of a “pep rally,” a phrase echoed by commentators on all three cable news networks.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper tweeted during the ceremony: “I find the clapping and whistles jarring. Maybe I’m too old-fashioned.”

Why was the reaction jarring? Why inappropriate?

Those who criticized the reaction of the crowd at Wednesday night’s memorial have it ingrained that a perfect memorial is one with candles, flowers and tears. The citizens of Tucson and the American people have mourned for five days. Wednesday’s event was not a time to mourn some more.

It was about remembering a politician and her staff who believed strongly in reaching out to her constituents. It was about remembering the heroics of ordinary citizens who saved lives during a crisis, and remembering those whose lives could not be saved.

It was about making a statement that those with ideologies and plans to disrupt our world, our security and our way of life were no match for the collaborative spirit and determination of the American people who seek to preserve it — the statement that no matter how determined one evil person is, they are no match for ten thousand good people.

It was about healing. It’s been said “laughter is the best medicine” — perhaps that phrase should be revised to “positivity is the best medicine.”

The talking heads compare Wednesday night’s events to that of a “pep rally.” Schools hold pep rallies in an effort to raise the spirit of their students and their athletes with the anticipation of winning a large game, or achieving some other desirable outcome.

The citizens of Tucson and the American people are on the “healing team” now, carrying with them the objective that those with ideologies and plans to disrupt our world, our security and our way of life were no match for the collaborative spirit and determination of the American people who seek to preserve it — the “healing team” marches strong with the support of millions of people against the ideology of one man with a magazine of bullets.

There were no lack of tears at Wednesday’s event — First Lady Michelle Obama wept as the President recounted the bedside miracle within Congresswoman Giffords hospital room, and Hernandez was moved to tears when the President rebuffed his humble personality by declaring him a hero. Indeed, the cheers moved many of us watching on television across the country and around the world to tears at the appropriate times — the crowd cheered fifty-three times, but those assembled at the University of Arizona did not cheer once out of place.

Tucson’s shouts of approval, met with applause, was the most appropriate way of reminding the world that Arizonans, and indeed all Americans, look to the future with optimism even when our past is met with times of struggle and crisis. It was a message to the world that Americans will carry on their day-to-day activities with this event and those who perished as a reminder that we must always strive to better ourselves, listen a little closer, speak up a little more and strive to be the best people — individually and collaboratively — that we can be.

Perhaps the Twitter response by KOLD’s Assistant News Director EJ Junker to Anderson Cooper sums it up best:

“The rest of the country may find the screams and applause as odd,” Junker wrote Wednesday night. “But simply, these are dark days down here. Tucson needs to cheer.”

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Email: mail@matthewkeys.net or @ProducerMatthew on Twitter.