John Boehner and Gabrielle Giffords | January, 2011: John A. Boehner, the House speaker, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords. | Photo: Archives | Related: John Boehner, Gabrielle Giffords

Watching Gabrielle Giffords on the house floor offering her letter of resignation and accepting the love and support of her friends and colleagues, it is hard not to be moved to tears. There is something new in Gabrielle Giffords' face, in the carefulness of her voice whose every word is a testament to her strength, in the dignity of her struggle. It is as if she has gone a long way to a very dark place so that she could bring us back a treasure, something delicate and beautiful that we weep to see. She has brought us back a picture not only of her own grace and resilience, but a way of seeing that very grace in ourselves and, most importantly, in each other. In the haze of familiarity, cynicism and fatigue that makes up modern life, it is rare to stop and to be struck suddenly by how fragile and beautiful a human being can be, how much we can suffer and how hard we can fight to rise above our suffering. This is why I will never concede that Gabrielle Giffords' appearance on the house floor is a non-political, non-partisan moment. It is, on the contrary, a moment of clarity, one that allows us to see what is at stake in all politics: the breakable, lovely, fleeting human life. This is why, contrary to what some believe, corporations will never be people. A corporation cannot suffer, a corporation cannot feel anguish, and cannot rise above anguish with poise and resolve. We cannot see in a corporation's face the sweetness of a life

What is at stake in all politics: the breakable, lovely, fleeting human life.

reclaimed. We cannot offer a corporation friendship, or share its difficulties. A corporation will never move us to tears of sympathy and admiration.

It will be hard for me to forget what I have seen in Gabrielle Gifford's face. But it will be all too easy for us to forget the truth that has shone out so brilliantly for an instant. We will be tempted to forget the suffering that political decisions can cause. We will want to denounce as "political rhetoric" all talk about where the damage is coming from and who is causing it. But a politics that does not put the welfare of people first, that that does work to heal the sick and the injured, that does not think of supporting people, educating them, backing them up, protecting them, a politics that puts the benefit of the few over the many: This politics is unworthy of what Gabrielle Giffords has shown us. A politics will be worthy that works to make a home for lovely and fragile human life.