You've gotta see this!

This is not a political statement.

I'm a reporter. I don't get to make political statements. I work for FOX. FOX would never make political statements.

Seriously, I work for a local FOX affiliate. We don't do political commentary. Just news.

But even the Republicans thought President Obama gave a good speech in Tuscon last night. Unifying, somber even as the students in the crowd cheered, thoughtful, dignified.

This is what my daughter said when I told her Obama announced in his speech that Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes shortly after he visited her: "He is Jesus." Kidding. She was kidding.

Then she and I watched the whole speech when it was rebroadcast later in the evening.

A couple parts jumped out at me:

Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath
For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.


Why did he do it? We want to be able to answer that question. I get asked it a lot when I cover a spree killing or mass killing. The thing is, there may be no answer that those of us with sound, rational minds can understand. And that is as it should be. People with serious mental illness don't process things the way people rooted in reality do.

But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. 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 us 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 our hopes and dreams are bound together.


Expand our moral imaginations...I just kept saying that phrase over and over again. "What do you think that means?" I asked my daughter. I'm still not sure but it feels like an invitation to be better than we are. To think beyond our own self interest. For a change.

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, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned – as it was on Saturday morning.


An elderly gentleman who wrestled the gunman to the ground. A tiny, older lady who grabbed the ammunition before he could reload. When the President acknowledged them I couldn't help but cry. And when he said, "heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many...just waiting to be summoned," I thought, now isn't that just the truth.

There are so many ordinary folks walking around hiding heroism they don't even know they have. And that's okay. It doesn't show itself until its needed. Until the storm. Until the fire. Until the crash.

And then they say, "I wasn't brave. I just did what anyone would do." I know. I have seen it. Have you?

Tell me about heroism you have encountered or witnessed. Big or small.