Awry

It doesn’t seem right (to me) to blog about superficial things when there is still so much raw suffering going on 120 miles away. So I stopped at a church on my way home from work and took a couple of photos.

But…I have to say…I was appalled at the behavior of the crowd at the University of Arizona’s memorial for the victims of the Tucson massacre last night. Cheering, catcalls, whistling, shouting, applause any time Arizona or the U of A was mentioned seemed inappropriate. There were 14,000 people inside but I don’t consider that there were 14,000 mourners. I think it was very strange and rude to the families of the victims and others close to them to behave in that way. I thought the President gave a very inspiring speech/eulogy and that he displayed the proper decorum for such a somber occasion. He even seemed stunned a few times at the response from the audience. It was not supposed to be a pep rally even though it was held in the basketball arena.

So, I’m relieved I’m an alum of Arizona State University and not U of A. The behavior of the crowd at ASU’s stadium in May 2009 when the President gave the commencement speech was far more civil than last night’s constant rowdy outbursts and graduation is a joyous occasion. I don’t think a mass memorial for several victims less than a week after the murders occurred can be such a raucously fun event as it appeared to be. Souvenir t-shirts were even draped on all the chairs and those were supplied by the U of A (at no taxpayer expense, at least).

So, once again, I want to say, we’re not all like that.