Will America return to business as usual after the funerals in Arizona? Will we move on but carry sad memories of that shocking senseless tragedy? Or could we choose to go forward changed for the better...changed in light of the randomness of tragedy and the brave acts by bystanders including Dorwan Stoddard, 76, who was killed trying to shield his wife.

Whatever our thoughts after this wrenching event, we Seniors have seen and experienced tragedy before. If we talked with each other of our experiences over the many years of our lives, incidents of tragedy would be the rule not the exception. We know this is part of the human condition.

However we have dealt in the past, however we survived, coped and moved on with life, we still remember those awful lessons we learned. We learned about shock and sadness and loss. We learned to force one foot in front of the other and take care of our responsibilities when we were so pulled to give in to sadness and grief.
 

From this unthinkable violence in an Arizona shopping center could we choose to learn another kind of lesson? Those who died that day were exercising their rights as American citizens. Could we resolve to act out those rights clearly and often in our own lives?  We are the living and we Seniors are not such finished products that we cannot decide to add something good to our lives.

Those closest to us as well as  society often see Seniors as inflexible and stuck in our ways...as so absolutely sure of what we know. We certainly have a lifetime of achievements, knowledge, experience. And yet, in our minds and hearts we know that there are things we would like to change and ways we would like to be better people.

In the past two years millions of Americans, including Seniors, have stepped up to help our country. However, too many Seniors remain less informed and less involved than they might be. We can choose to inform ourselves and others . We can surprise even ourselves by stepping out visibly to exercise the rights of free speech and peaceful assembly in making our voices heard. We can stand strongly for what we know is good for our country and point out that which is not. If not Seniors, then who could know?

By our behavior we can show young Americans that liberty unprotected is liberty lost. We can speak out at local school boards, have a voice in town and county governance, show eagerness to learn about state and national issues. We can openly examine the character and records of political candidates seeking our votes.

Choosing to take a lesson from those assembled in Arizona that Saturday morning, we can exemplify for all those around us what it looks like to be an active, involved, caring American citizen. All the while, we will be telling our children and grandchildren what we are doing and why...and how we are exercising our own rights so that we may preserve theirs.