A confession

Everyone's entitled to their opinion . . . until they share it, and then it's fair game for ridicule and derision.

I have a definite opinion on a current situation and I'm willing to bet that I'm probably the only person in American who feels the way I do.  In fact if my feelings on the subject were known, many, many people would undoubtedly accuse me of being hateful and downright unpatriotic.

Wow.  What opinion could I hold that would draw such strong animosity?

I confess that I am sick and tired of hearing about (being bombarded with, really) every detail of Rep. Gabrielle Gifford's life.  Gabby, as her husband, family, friends, and every news anchor/talk show host in America calls her, has been all over the news lately.  It seems like she is getting almost as much press now as she was 10 months ago when she was gravely wounded by a crazed gunman at a meet and greet with her constituents in Tucson, AZ.

Last night when I was at Barnes & Noble, I realized why there has been such a resurgence in all things Gabby -- she and her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, have written a book, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.  I find it fascinating and exquisitely timed that Giffords chose to grant her first post-shooting interview (with ABC's Diane Sawyer) to coincide with the release of her book.  Surely that wasn't planned?  Nah, couldn't have been.

Now before you think that I am a truly heartless jerk, I fully admire the determination that Rep. Giffords has shown as she has struggled to regain the ability to walk, talk, and reclaim the daily functions and freedoms of life that I so blithely take for granted.  Her recovery has been nothing short of miraculous, especially since she was very close to death.

What I bristle at is the "it's all about Gabby" attitude that oozes at every turn.  If for some reason you had lived your life in isolation for the past year, and suddenly you emerged to be confronted by the Gabby feeding frenzy, you might conclude, wrongly so, that Giffords was the only one who was shot that morning in January 2011.  Even at the time of the shooting, the other victims -- 6 people were killed and 12 (not counting Giffords) were wounded -- received little press.

Two shooting victims who did receive a bit more than a passing mention were a chief federal judge and a 9-year old girl who was the granddaughter of a former MLB player and manager.  Obviously the child's death, because of her age, was incredibly tragic and grabbed the attention and heartstrings of the public.  The fact that she was related to a sport celebrity also heightened the curiosity factor.  Predictably the media made the most of her story.  As a public servant, the judge also garnered a decent amount of press.  But the remaining victims, whether wounded or dead, were largely ignored.

Today if you were to ask someone if they remembered anything about a victim other than Giffords, few would be able to come up with a name or other details.  It's as if Gabrielle Giffords was the only one who was shot, the only one worth remembering.

It's all about Gabby.

It doesn't seem right to me that everyone else has been pushed aside.  Don't their stories matter?  Couldn't the nation also be inspired by their accounts of triumph over tragedy or encouraged by their determination to regain health and wholeness?

Why does our society value celebrity so much -- to the point that the struggles and afflictions of the common man fail to move us to the same degree (or at all) that we feel when the same misfortune happens to someone famous?  WT* is wrong with us?

I truly am glad that Rep. Giffords is making a strong recovery.  She still has a long way to go, but she is surrounded by an incredible support team and, as a member of Congress, she has access to the very best medical care that taxpayer money can buy.  Hopefully her story will inspire someone else who is struggling to recover from a traumatic injury.

But there are lots and lots of stories out there.  Stories from school teachers and cabdrivers, artists, farmers, and accountants.  Stories worth hearing from people who aren't usually accorded the power, position, and privilege that's reserved for politicians and celebrities.

I've heard enough about, and from, Gabby.  It's time for someone else to have a turn to tell their story.