Hero

Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is my hero, as are all congresswomen and female senators in the United States government. On January 8^th, 2011 Rep. Giffords was at a shopping center in Tuscon, Arizona when she became the target of an attempted assassination by a deranged drug addict. Not only was Gabrielle the first to be shot, but she was also shot directly in the head. Six other people died after being shot, including a 9-year-old girl. But Gabrielle survived her gunshot wound to the head and is surprising everyone with the pace and progress of her recovery. Now it seems that every day I go on any news site I hear more and more about the progress Gabrielle is making.

On Wednesday night, President Obama was speaking at the Tuscon shooting memorial when he announced that Gabrielle had opened her eyes soon after he had finished visiting her in the hospital. This news brought cheers from the massive audience at the memorial and tears to the eyes of Gabrielle’s husband Mark Kelly, and it has highlighted the amazing recovery the Gabrielle is making.

Gabrielle herself may not know it, and many people may be oblivious to it, but was has happened to her may advance the Women’s Movement farther than any piece of paper or print in Congress could ever do. Sometimes symbols and profound events can change people’s hearts and minds more than laws can. I hear men and women who oppose feminism and the working-woman all the time saying that there are specific roles for men and women, or that women can’t do all the things that a man can do. They go on to rant that some jobs are just too dangerous for them. This has done a lot to hinder the progress of integrating women in the military. Today women are still not allowed to serve in combat roles and are segregated from their male comrades.

The conservative mantra used to justify this is that this must be done in order to “protect” women from harm, insinuating that a woman can’t withstand the same risks and trials that men in the military have to go though. The same argument is made for female police officers. In fact, a female opponent of feminism recently wrote an article on her website trying to cite reasons why women shouldn’t be allowed to be police officers. Is it really a coincidence that this article was written just a few days after a congresswoman takes a bullet to the head and survives?

What is especially sad is that this article came from a woman, and that there are women in America who advocate against allowing other women to serve in the military and police forces because they have embraced their own subordination and cowardice. They do not believe that they are capable of the same service as men in dangerous fields and they believe that their own fear justifies not wanting to serve in dangerous jobs. Yet, they don’t think that men who have the same fear or are under the same risk get to opt out like they do.

Gabrielle is not one of these women. Last March she received countless threats for voting for President Obama’s healthcare plan and her office was vandalized. The lunatic who shot her last Saturday had been stalking and threatening her since 2007. Yet, Gabrielle wasn’t afraid. She didn’t throw up her hands and say the job of Congresswoman was too dangerous from her. She didn’t try to hide behind her husband or receive special protection. She continued to her job and served her country through legislative action including upholding and protecting a woman’s right to choose, passing universal healthcare, and advocating for secure borders in the state of Arizona. She faced her threats, unlike certain other women, without tears or hysterics. She held an open meeting with her constituents the day she was shot. She had just won a third term to Congress, which she ran for after receiving numerous threats.

The reason that Gabrielle’s assassination attempt and survival matters is because sometimes the job of being a politician can be just as dangerous as being in the military, or being a police officer. This is why Gabrielle is my hero because she has once again proven that a woman can do anything that a man can do; including taking a bullet to the head and having the strength to survive it. And the most important thing is that Gabrielle knew the risks. She had been receiving threats for months and knew that someone might try to harm her. The same way those women who serve in the military or in the police forces know the risks against themselves by doing their jobs.

And in that same article that I cite above, the female anti-feminist tries to claim that all women aren’t physically capable of serving dangerous jobs with one example of one woman who happened to be weaker than her attacker. Never does she point out that not all women are shorter or weaker than men or that there are numerous women who are physically as tall or as strong as any man. Gabrielle proves this point. Very few people have survived a gunshot wound to the head. What makes Gabrielle extraordinary is that she is probably the first woman I have heard of who has done that. Simply by surviving her attack, Gabrielle has probably done decades worth of progress for all women who choose to serve in the military, police, or in their governments. Simply by surviving, she has proven that a woman can take on any risk with the same determination a man has, and can withstand a physical attack with the same strength and perseverance that a man has. That is why Gabrielle Gifford's is my hero.