Articles and postings are about family matters, issues regarding Boston's Chinatown, and the Asian American community. Art, literature, and politics will also be included in the discussions. Both Chinese and English will be used.家事、同胞事、社區事，事事關心。藝人、文學人、政治人，人人著意。中英並用。
Our love affair is a wondrous thing That we'll rejoice in remembering Our love was born with our first embrace And a page was torn out of time and space
Our love affair, may it always be A flame to burn through eternity So take my hand with a fervent prayer That we may live and we may share A love affair to remember
Our love affair is a wondrous thing That we'll rejoice in remembering Our love was born with our first embrace And a page was torn out of time and space
Our love affair, may it always be A flame to burn through eternity So take my hand with a fervent prayer That we may live and we may share A love affair to remember
1. Chorus A great river flows, its waves wide and calm Wind blows through rice flowers, bearing fragrance to both shores My family live right there by the water I am used to hearing the punters' call And seeing the white sails on the boats Solo A great river flows, its waves wide and calm Wind blows through rice flowers, bearing fragrance to both shores My family lives right there by the water I am used to hearing the punters' call And seeing the white sails on the boats Chorus This is the beautiful motherland This is the place where I grew up On this expansive stretch of land Everywhere there is wonderful scenery to behold 2. Solo How like flowers are the young ladies How big and determined are the hearts of the young men In order to usher in a new era They've woken the sleeping mountains And changed the face of the river Chorus This is the heroic motherland This is the place where I grew up On this stretch of ancient land There is youthful vigour everywhere 3. Solo Great mountains, great rivers, a great land Every road is broad and wide If friends come, there is fine wine But if the wolves come[2][3] Those who greet him have hunting guns[2][3] Chorus This is the mighty motherland This is the place where I grew up On this stretch of warm and friendly land There is peaceful sunshine everywhere
The look of love is in your eyes The look your heart can't disguise The look of love is saying so much more Than just words could ever say And what my heart has heard Well, it takes my breath away
I can hardly wait to hold you Feel my arms around you How long I have waited Waited just to love you Now that I have found you.
You've got the look of love It's on your face A look that time can't erase Be mine tonight Let this be just the start Of so many nights like this Let's take a lover's vow and then seal it with a kiss
I can hardly wait to hold you Feel my arms around you How long I have waited Waited just to love you Now that I have found you Don't ever go
I can hardly wait to hold you Feel my arms around you How long I have waited Waited just to love you Now that I have found you Don't ever go Don't ever go I love you so
Obama’s stark, bold challenge: rise to this ‘Sputnik moment’
January 26, 2011
THE CHALLENGE that President Obama posed last night is essentially this: Move aggressively to develop renewable energy, improve schools, rebuild infrastructure, and rein in spending on entitlements, or be consigned to an ever-diminishing share of the world’s economic bounty.
Obama urges a freeze
and shift in spending
Republicans urge Obama
to join in cutting spending
Editorial: Obama’s challenge: rise to ‘Sputnik moment’
Obama’s State of the Union speech was refreshingly free of the usual empty vows to rebuild dead factories, to miraculously best overseas competitors simply by being Americans. It dared to suggest that India and China and South Korea and other nations are doing impressive things with their own economies, and will be forceful competitors. It dared to hint that the United States could well fail — if it can’t rise to what Obama called a “Sputnik moment.’’
That’s the kind of straight talk that should build confidence in people in economically struggling corners of Massachusetts and other states from which old-line manufacturing jobs have fled. Those jobs won’t come back. But with a real commitment to education and to rebuilding the economic landscape — from roads and bridges to the tax code — and to investing in the most promising industries, such as renewable energy, people in those places and all across the country will get better jobs and have better futures.
Those investments must be made. And Obama’s speech was courageous in another way: By daring to suggest that further efforts to rein in Medicare and Medicaid spending, and to stabilize Social Security, are the key to erasing the long-term deficit. He praised the work of his fiscal commission — a code for saying the solution lies in a combined approach of retooling benefit and tax formulas to curb spending and increase revenues. Proposing any changes in entitlements is political poison; the politically powerful elderly flock to the opposing party. So this, of all Obama’s proposals, needs bipartisan attention.
Obama should have given this speech earlier in his presidency, because it validated the promise of generational change and casting aside old resentments that helped vault him over Hillary Clinton and John McCain in 2008. And while his first two years saw many accomplishments, many were piecemeal and suggested an understandable lurching to answer crises. Meanwhile, his greatest win, health reform, seemed oddly disconnected from the immediate problems facing many Americans.
Last night’s speech helped explain Obama’s overall intention: to reorient the economy, and the political debate, toward the reality of a fast-moving, globalized economy. This agenda is the truer progeny of his 2008 promise of hope and change.
The Accurate Source To Find Quotes To Keith Olbermann.”
[Keith Olbermann - Special Comment On Gabrielle Giffords Shooting]
[Keith Theodore Olbermann January 27, 1959]
Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. We need to put the guns down. Just as importantly we need to put the gun metaphors away and permanently.
Left, right, middle – politicians and citizens – sane and insane. This morning in Arizona, this age in which this country would accept “targeting” of political opponents and putting bullseyes over their faces and of the dangerous blurring between political rallies and gun shows, ended.
This morning in Arizona, this time of the ever-escalating, borderline-ecstatic invocation of violence in fact or in fantasy in our political discourse, closed. It is essential tonight not to demand revenge, but to demand justice; to insist not upon payback against those politicians and commentators who have so irresponsibly brought us to this time of domestic terrorism, but to work to change the minds of them and their supporters – or if those minds tonight are too closed, or if those minds tonight are too unmoved, or if those minds tonight are too triumphant, to make sure by peaceful means that those politicians and commentators and supporters have no further place in our system of government.
At this news conference this evening, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik took the extraordinary step of reporting details of not the crime scene alone but rather of the political and cultural climate. I think it’s time as a country to do soul searching because I think rhetoric we hear day in and day out from the people in the radio business and some people in the tv business. And what we see on tv and how our youngsters are being raised. It may be free speech but without consequences. Arizona is the mecca of prejudice and bigotry. Source: LYBIO.net
If Sarah Palin, whose website put and today scrubbed bullseye targets on 20 Representatives including Gabby Giffords, does not repudiate her own part however, tangential in amplifying violence and violent imagery in politics, she must be dismissed from politics – she must be repudiated by the members of her own party, and if they fail to do so, each one of them must be judged to have silently defended this tactic that today proved so awfully foretelling, and they must in turn be dismissed by the responsible members of their own party.
If Jesse Kelly, whose campaign against Congresswoman Giffords included an event in which he encouraged his supporters to join him firing machine guns, does not repudiate this, does not admit that even if it was solely indirectly, or solely coincidentally, it contributed to the black cloud of violence that has enveloped our politics, he must be repudiated by Arizona’s Republican Party.
If Congressman Allen West, who during his successful campaign told his supporters that they should make his opponent afraid to come out of his own home, does not repudiate those remarks and all other suggestions of violence or forced fear, he should be repudiated by his constituents and the Republican Congressional Caucus. Source: LYBIO.net
If Sharron Angle, who spoke of “Second Amendment remedies,” does not repudiate that remark and urge her supporters to think anew of the terrible reality of what her words implied, she must be repudiated by her supporters in Nevada.
If the Tea Party leaders who took out of context a Jefferson quote about blood and tyranny and the tree of liberty do not understand – do not understand tonight, now, what that really means, and these leaders do not tell their followers to abhor violence and all threat of violence, then those Tea Party leaders must be repudiated by the Republican Party.
On LYBIO.net you can find - The Largest community of social networking with text-script-video blogging service. http://www.lybio.net
If Glenn Beck, who obsesses nearly as strangely as Mr. Loughner did about gold and debt and who wistfully joked about killing Michael Moore, and Bill O’Reilly, who blithely repeated “Tiller the Killer” until the phrase was burned into the minds of his viewers, if do not begin their next broadcasts with solemn apologies for ever turning to the death-fantasies and the dreams of blood-lust, for ever having provided just the oxygen to those deep in madness to whom violence is an acceptable solution, then those commentators and the others must be repudiated by their viewers and listeners, and by all politicians, who appear on their programs, including President Obama and his planned interview with Fox on Super Bowl Sunday and repudiated by the sponsors, and by the networks that employ them. And if all of these are not responsible for what happened in Tucson, they must now be responsible for doing everything they can to make Tucson does not happen again.
And if those of us considered to be “on the left” do not re-dedicate ourselves to our vigilance to eliminate all our own suggestions of violence – how ever inadvertent they might have been, then we too deserve the repudiation of the more sober and peaceful of our politicians and our viewers and our networks.
Here, once, in a clumsy metaphor, I made such an unintended statement about the candidacy of then-Senator Clinton. It sounded as if it was a call to physical violence. It was wrong, then. It is even more wrong tonight. I apologize for it again, and I urge politicians and commentators and citizens of every political conviction to use my comment as a means to recognize the insidiousness of violent imagery, that if it can go so easily and slip into the comments of one as opposed to violence as me, how easily, how pervasively, how disastrously it can slip into the already-violent or deranged mind? Source: LYBIO.net
For tonight we stand at one of the clichéd crossroads of American history. Even if the alleged terrorist Jared Lee Loughner was merely shooting into a political crowd because he wanted to shoot into a political crowd, even if he was somehow unaware who was in the crowd, we have nevertheless for years been building up to a moment like this. Despite the Youtube videos in what it appears to be Loughner referring specifically to the eighth Congress District of Arizona, Gabby Giffords District, assume the details are coincidence. The violence is not. The rhetoric has devolved and descended, past the ugly and past the threatening and past the fantastic and into the imminently murderous.
We will not return to the 1850s, when a pro-slavery Congressman nearly beat to death an anti-slavery Senator; when an anti-slavery madman cut to death with broadswords pro-slavery advocates.
We will not return to the 1960s, when with rationalizations of an insane desire for fame, or of hatred, or of political opposition, a President was assassinated and an ultra-Conservative would-be president shot at and paralyzed, and a leader of peace was murdered on a balcony. We will not.
Because tonight, what Mrs. Palin, and what Mr. Kelly, and what Congressman West, and what Ms. Angle, and what Mr. Beck, and what Mr. O’Reilly, and what you and I must understand, was that the man who fired today did not fire at a Democratic Congresswoman and her supporters. Source: LYBIO.net
He was not just a mad-man incited by a thousand daily temptations by slightly less-mad-men to do things they would not rationally condone.
He fired today into our liberty and our rights to live and to agree or disagree in safety and in freedom from fear that our support or opposition will cost us our lives or our health or our sense of safety. The bulls-eye might just as well have been on Mrs. Palin, or Mr. Kelly, or you, or me. The wrong, the horror, would have been – could still be just as real and just as unacceptable.
At a time of such urgency and impact, we as Americans – conservative or liberal – should pour our hearts and souls into our politics. We should not – none of us, not Gabby Giffords and not any Conservative – ever have to pour our blood. And every politician and commentator who hints otherwise, or worse still stays silent now, should have no place in our political system, and should be denied that place, not by violence, but by being shunned and ignored.
It is a simple pledge, it is to the point, and it is essential that every American politician and commentator and activist and partisan and take it and take it now, I say it first, and freely:
Violence, or the threat of violence, has no place in our Democracy, and I apologize for and repudiate any act or any thing in my past that may have even inadvertently encouraged violence. Because for whatever else each of us may be, we all are Americans. Good night and good luck. Source: LYBIO.net
Keith Olbermann – Special Comment On Gabrielle Giffords Shooting. Mr. Loughner -He fired today into our liberty and our rights to live and to agree or disagree in safety and in freedom from fear that our support or opposition will cost us our lives or our health or our sense of safety. Complete Full Script, Dialogue, Remarks, Saying, Quotes, Words And Text To Keith Olbermann – Special Comment On Gabrielle Giffords Shooting.
(I can't stop loving you) I've made up my mind To live in memory of the lonesome times (I can't stop wanting you) It's useless to say So I'll just live my life in dreams of yesterday (Dreams of yesterday) Those happy hours that we once knew Tho' long ago, they still make me blue They say that time heals a broken heart But time has stood still since we've been apart
(I can't stop loving you) I've made up my mind To live in memories of the lonesome times (I can't stop wanting you) It's useless to say So I'll just live my life in dreams of yesterday (Those happy hours) Those happy hours (That we once knew) That we once knew (Tho' long ago) Tho' long ago (Still make me blue) Still ma-a-a-ake me blue (They say that time) They say that time (Heals a broken heart) Heals a broken heart (But time has stood still) Time has stood still (Since we've been apart) Since we've been apart
(I can't stop loving you) I said I made up my mind To live in memory of the lonesome times (Sing a song, children) (I can't stop wanting you) It's useless to say So I'll just live my life of dreams of yesterday (Of yesterday)
Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air And feather canyons everywhere, i've looked at cloud that way. But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone. So many things i would have done but clouds got in my way.
I've looked at clouds from both sides now, From up and down, and still somehow It's cloud illusions i recall. I really don't know clouds at all.
Moons and junes and ferris wheels, the dizzy dancing way you feel As every fairy tale comes real; i've looked at love that way. But now it's just another show. you leave 'em laughing when you go And if you care, don't let them know, don't give yourself away.
I've looked at love from both sides now, From give and take, and still somehow It's love's illusions i recall. I really don't know love at all.
Tears and fears and feeling proud to say "i love you" right out loud, Dreams and schemes and circus crowds, i've looked at life that way. But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say I've changed. Something's lost but something's gained in living every day.
I've looked at life from both sides now, From win and lose, and still somehow It's life's illusions i recall. I really don't know life at all.
He was crazy of course From the first she must have known it But still she went on with him And she never once had shown it And she took him off the street And she dried his tears of grieving She listened to his visions She believed in his believe-ins
Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle And she was the moon shining back his light a little He was a shooting star She was softer and more slowly He could not make things possible But, she could make them holy
He was dancing to some music No one else had ever heard He'd speak in unknown languages She would translate every word And then when the world was laughing At his castles in the sky She'd hold him in her body Till he once again could fly
Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle And she was the moon shining back his light a little He was a shooting star She was softer and more slowly He could not make things possible But, she could make them holy
Well, she gave him a daughter And she gave him a son She was a mother, and a wife, And a lover when the day was done He was too far gone for giving love What he offered in its stead Was the knowledge she was the only thing That was not in his head
He took off East one morning Towards the rising sun's red glow She knew he was going nowhere But of course she let him go And as she stood and watched him dwindle Much too empty to be sad He reappeared beside her saying, "You're all I've ever had"
Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle And she was the moon shining back his light a little He was a shooting star She was softer and more slowly He could not make things possible But, she could make them holy Holy
That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.
Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.” On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life. “I hope you help those in need,” read one. “I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles.”
If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.
Remarks by the President at a Memorial Service for the Victims of the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona
McKale Memorial Center
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
6:43 P.M. MST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Please, please be seated. (Applause.)
To the families of those we’ve lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants who are gathered here, the people of Tucson and the people of Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today and will stand by you tomorrow. (Applause.)
There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: The hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy will pull through. (Applause.)
Scripture tells us:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. (Applause.) They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders –- representatives of the people answering questions to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns back to our nation’s capital. Gabby called it “Congress on Your Corner” -– just an updated version of government of and by and for the people. (Applause.)
And that quintessentially American scene, that was the scene that was shattered by a gunman’s bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday –- they, too, represented what is best in us, what is best in America. (Applause.)
Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. (Applause.) A graduate of this university and a graduate of this law school -- (applause) -- Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain 20 years ago -- (applause) -- appointed by President George H.W. Bush and rose to become Arizona’s chief federal judge. (Applause.)
His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons and his five beautiful grandchildren. (Applause.)
George and Dorothy Morris -– “Dot” to her friends -– were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together -- traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. (Applause.) Both were shot. Dot passed away.
A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her three children, her seven grandchildren and 2-year-old great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she’d often work under a favorite tree, or sometimes she'd sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants -- (laughter) -- to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better. (Applause.)
Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together -– about 70 years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families. But after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy’s daughters put it, “be boyfriend and girlfriend again.” (Laughter.)
When they weren’t out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with his dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers. (Applause.)
Everything -- everything -- Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion. (Applause.) But his true passion was helping people. As Gabby’s outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits that they had earned, that veterans got the medals and the care that they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved -– talking with people and seeing how he could help. And Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year. (Applause.)
And then there is nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student; she was a dancer; she was a gymnast; she was a swimmer. She decided that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the Major Leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her. (Applause.)
She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age. She’d remind her mother, “We are so blessed. We have the best life.” And she’d pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.
Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken -– and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.
Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday.
I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. And I want to tell you -- her husband Mark is here and he allows me to share this with you -- right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we left her room and some of her colleagues in Congress were in the room, Gabby opened her eyes for the first time. (Applause.) Gabby opened her eyes for the first time. (Applause.)
Gabby opened her eyes. Gabby opened her eyes, so I can tell you she knows we are here. She knows we love her. And she knows that we are rooting for her through what is undoubtedly going to be a difficult journey. We are there for her. (Applause.)
Our hearts are full of thanks for that good news, and our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful to Daniel Hernandez -- (applause) -- a volunteer in Gabby’s office. (Applause.)
And, Daniel, I’m sorry, you may deny it, but we’ve decided you are a hero because -- (applause) -- you ran through the chaos to minister to your boss, and tended to her wounds and helped keep her alive. (Applause.)
We are grateful to the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. (Applause.) Right over there. (Applause.) We are grateful for petite Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer’s ammunition, and undoubtedly saved some lives. (Applause.) And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and first responders who worked wonders to heal those who’d been hurt. We are grateful to them. (Applause.)
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, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, all around us, just waiting to be summoned -– as it was on Saturday morning. Their actions, their selflessness poses a challenge to each of us. It raises a question of what, beyond prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be true to their memory?
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations –- to try and pose some order on the chaos and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system. And much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -– at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do -– it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds. (Applause.)
Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, “When I looked for light, then came darkness.” Bad things happen, and we have to guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
For the truth is none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped these shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind. Yes, we have to examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of such violence in the future. (Applause.) But what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. (Applause.) That we cannot do. (Applause.) That we cannot do.
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’s 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 that our hopes and dreams are bound together. (Applause.)
After all, that’s what most of us do when we lose somebody in our family -– especially if the loss is unexpected. We’re shaken out of our routines. We’re forced to look inward. We reflect on the past: Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices that they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in a while but every single day?
So sudden loss causes us to look backward -– but it also forces us to look forward; to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. (Applause.)
We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we're doing right by our children, or our community, whether our priorities are in order.
We recognize our own mortality, and we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -– but rather, how well we have loved -- (applause)-- and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better. (Applause.)
And that process -- that process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions –- that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires.
For those who were harmed, those who were killed –- they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. (Applause.) We may not have known them personally, but surely we see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis –- she’s our mom or our grandma; Gabe our brother or son. (Applause.) In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America’s fidelity to the law. (Applause.)
And in Gabby -- in Gabby, we see a reflection of our public-spiritedness; that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union. (Applause.)
And in Christina -- in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic, so full of magic. So deserving of our love. And so deserving of our good example.
If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate -- as it should -- let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost. (Applause.) Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point-scoring and pettiness that drifts away in the next news cycle.
The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better. To be better in our private lives, to be better friends and neighbors and coworkers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their death helps usher in more civility in our public discourse, let us remember it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy -- it did not -- but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in a way that would make them proud. (Applause.)
We should be civil because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American Dream to future generations. (Applause.)
They believed -- they believed, and I believe that we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved life here –- they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another, that’s entirely up to us. (Applause.)
And I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us. (Applause.)
That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. (Applause.)
Imagine -- imagine for a moment, here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council. She saw public service as something exciting and hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want to live up to her expectations. (Applause.) I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it. (Applause.) All of us -– we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations. (Applause.)
As has already been mentioned, Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.” On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life. “I hope you help those in need,” read one. “I hope you know all the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart." (Applause.) "I hope you jump in rain puddles.”
If there are rain puddles in Heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. (Applause.) And here on this Earth -- here on this Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and we commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.
May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me, Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee; Sounds of the rude world heard in the day, Lulld by the moonlight have all passd away!
Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song, List while I woo thee with soft melody; Gone are the cares of lifes busy throng
Beautiful dreamer, out on the sea, Mermaids are chaunting the wild lorelie; Over the streamlet vapors are borne, Waiting to fade at the bright coming morn.
Beautiful dreamer, beam on my heart, Een as the morn on the streamlet and sea; Then will all clouds of sorrow depart,
Te quiero dijiste Tomando mis manos Entre tus manitas De blanco marfil Y sentí en mi pecho Un fuerte latido Después un suspiro Y luego el chasquido De un beso febril
mun`equita linda De cabellos de oro tus dientes de perla Labios de rubí Dime si me quieres Como yo te adoro Si de mí te acuerdas Como yo de ti
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir Siempre hasta morir Siempre hasta morir
Te Quiero Dijiste (I Love You, You Said)
"I love you," you said Taking my hands Into your little hands Of white ivory And I felt in my chest A heavy pang Then a sigh And next the spark Of a feverish kiss
Pretty little doll Of golden hair Your teeth of pearls Ruby lips Tell me if you love me As I love you If you remember me As I do you
Sometimes I hear A divine echo Enveloped in the wind It seems to say Yes, I really love you So very much As much as then Until I die
Magic is the moonlight on this lover's June night As I see the moonlight shining in your eyes
And this is their power in this moonlit hour Love begin to flower this is paradise
Living in the splendor of your kiss so tender Make my heart surrender to your love divine
Magic is the moonlight more than any June night Magic is the moonlight for it made you mine
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir
Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir
Te quiero dijiste Tomando mis manos Entre tus manitas De blanco marfil Y sentí en mi pecho Un fuerte latido Después un suspiro Y luego el chasquido De un beso febril
mun`equita linda De cabellos de oro tus dientes de perla Labios de rubí Dime si me quieres Como yo te adoro Si de mí te acuerdas Como yo de ti
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir Siempre hasta morir Siempre hasta morir
Te Quiero Dijiste (I Love You, You Said)
"I love you," you said Taking my hands Into your little hands Of white ivory And I felt in my chest A heavy pang Then a sigh And next the spark Of a feverish kiss
Pretty little doll Of golden hair Your teeth of pearls Ruby lips Tell me if you love me As I love you If you remember me As I do you
Sometimes I hear A divine echo Enveloped in the wind It seems to say Yes, I really love you So very much As much as then Until I die
Magic is the moonlight on this lover's June night As I see the moonlight shining in your eyes
And this is their power in this moonlit hour Love begin to flower this is paradise
Living in the splendor of your kiss so tender Make my heart surrender to your love divine
Magic is the moonlight more than any June night Magic is the moonlight for it made you mine
A veces escucho Un eco divino Que envuelto en la brisa Parece decir
Sí te quiero mucho Mucho mucho mucho Tanto como entonces Siempre hasta morir
You ask me if I love you And I choke on my reply I'd rather hurt you honestly Than mislead you with a lie And who am I to judge you On what you say or do? I'm only just beginning to see the real you
And sometimes when we touch The honesty's too much And I have to close my eyes and hide I wanna hold you til I die Til we both break down and cry I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides
Romance and all its strategy Leaves me battling with my pride But through the insecurity Some tenderness survives I'm just another writer Still trapped within my truth A hesitant prize fighter Still trapped within my youth
And sometimes when we touch The honesty's too much And I have to close my eyes and hide I wanna hold you til I die Til we both break down and cry I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides
At times I'd like to break you And drive you to your knees At times I'd like to break through And hold you endlessly
At times I understand you And I know how hard you've tried I've watched while love commands you And I've watched love pass you by
At times I think we're drifters Still searching for a friend A brother or a sister But then the passion flares again
And sometimes when we touch The honesty's too much And I have to close my eyes and hide I wanna hold you til I die Til we both break down and cry I wanna hold you till the fear in me subsides
