Posted on 01/13/2011 11:22:47 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
US First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday asked American parents to talk to their children about the Arizona shooting that killed six people, including a nine-year-old girl, and use the event to teach them value of tolerance.
Michelle, who joined her husband US President Barack Obama at a memorial service for the victims, issued an open letter to parents.
"We can teach them the value of tolerance -- the practice of assuming the best, rather than the worst, about those around us. We can teach them to give others the benefit of the doubt, particularly those with whom they Disagree," Michelle said in the open letter.
She along with the US President, Barack Obama, travelled to Tucson on Wednesday to attend a memorial for the victims of the shooting. The shooting over the weekend also critically injured US lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords, who is fighting for her life in hospital.
"Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend," she said.
"As parents, an event like this hits home especially hard. It makes our hearts ache for those who lost loved ones. It makes us want to hug our own families a little tighter. And it makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in and the world in which our children will grow up," she said.
"In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well. The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have and they don't lend themselves to easy answers.
"But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away," Michelle said.
"We can teach our children that here in America, we embrace each other, and support each other, in times of crisis. And we can help them do that in their own small way whether it's by sending a letter, or saying a prayer, or just keeping the victims and their families in their thoughts," she wrote.
We can also teach our children about the tremendous sacrifices made by the men and women who serve our country and by their families. We can explain to them that although we might not always agree with those who represent us, anyone who enters public life does so because they love their country and want to serve it, Michelle wrote.
If they send the letter to the left first, I might believe they mean it....not!
Dats johst stooopid.
I’m surprised at her audacity. She listened to Jeremiah Wright for years and she’s qualified to tell people to instruct their children to assume the best about people, not the worst? Hypocrisy, your name is Michelle!
We can teach them that there are paranoid schizophrenics out there who WILL kill, then when they are old enough we can teach them to use a gun for their own protection from evil ones.
Yeah, Michele... We already had this talk with our kids, way back when, to explain the “beer summit”.
For instance, I wonder if we should teach our children to tell those who oppose us they are our "enemies" who have to "sit in the back" or we'll have "hand to hand combat"...
Typical leftist pap.
Taught mine that the next time someone has a boot on your throat or is kicking your ass, be prepared with a concealed weapon.
Another good lesson was if your gonna go for a head shot, use a good quality hollow point bullet. Not that cheap target stuff...
Is that what you had in mind Michelle?
What the heck does tolerance have to do with anything in this situation? That harridan knows best?
I don’t need a bunch of baby killing advocates and sodomy supporters telling me to teach my children to be “tolerant” of that behavior.
So she is implying conservatives did it? I guess she didn’t hear Hussein’s campaign speech.
Yep this parent learned that if anyone was complicit in the shooting it would be the boys parents who probably knew there was serious mental problems but were probably too afraid to be parents. (look at the letter they sent-suggests what I say)
As a Parent I learned from this shooting that if anyone was
complicit it was system that allowed a very troubled young pathological murderer to be rejected by the Army for drug use/ kicked out of college because he made other students fear him. As a Parent I cannot fault the AM Talk Radio or the Right wing. For evidence suggests he was extreme left wing. I cannot fault the weapons maker nor seller because he should have been locked in a nut farm long before he ever purchased the weapon he used. As a parent I very much blame a despotic system of governance that has promoted divisions and political favor at the expense of good goverment all in the name of progressive Democratic Party control.And I didn’t need the expensive first Lady to tell me any of that.
Amen Brother.
mooch-chelle is the ultimate welfare queen...and she has the nerve to tell anyone anything? moocher...go on another vacation or something. No one cares what you think or say about anything.
That would be sister : )
Yuh. Riiight. Lets' face it. Most politicians are on an ego trip at best and gravitate to holding power over others at worst.
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