Every day, many of us get up in the morning and get dressed and drive to an office to work. If you are among this vast swath of Americans, we cats would like you to imagine the following scenario.
Your boss has been shot in the head. For a half-hour, you are mistakenly informed that she has died. As a responsible staff member, you must A)., get your head around the fact that your boss has been attacked, B)., grapple with the report that she has died, and then C)., do a complete 180-degree mental turnaround once you learn she's still alive. Oh, and try not to worry that as an employee of hers, you might be a target, too.
As for the guy at the desk next to you, unfortunately, the verdict is not so murky. He is definitely dead. He was killed in the first few seconds of the melee in which your boss was shot. He was only 30, cute, funny, a real office leader. You have to not only deal with the fact that he's dead but also figure out how to cover for him in the office.
On top of all this grief, you are receiving, and are responsible for, hundreds of phone calls and e-mails that are pouring into your office — and to which you must respond in a reasonable amount of time... at some point.
Yet through it all, you manage to do your job and service your customers — your constituents.
This is what the last two weeks has been like for the staff of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. These government workers are the people whom the teabaggers demonize, day in and day out. In the interest of constructive public discourse, we cats just thought it would be useful to think about these folks and how we should honor them.
The next time you're tempted to trash the government, remember — in the spirit of Sargent Shriver — that you're trashing yourself.
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