Born on the Eleventh of September

Yesterday, Gabrielle Giffords, a member of Congress, was shot and gravely wounded. Six others, including John M. Roll, a federal judge, were killed. The New York Times reports that the dead included a nine year old girl, Christina Taylor Green, who was born on September 11, 2001 in nearby West Grove, Pennsylvania:

She was special from birth because she was born on Sept. 11, 2001, and she was proud of it, her mother said, because it lent a grace note of hope to that terrible day.

“It was an emotional time for everyone in the family, but Christina’s birth was a happy event and made the day bittersweet,” her mother said in a telephone interview from their Tucson home.

Indeed, Christina, who was born when the family was living in West Grove, Pennsylvania, was one of the 50 “Faces of Hope” representing babies from 50 states who were born on 9/11. Their images were printed in a book, with some of the proceeds used to raise money for a 9/11 charity.

The girl, who was on her school's student council, was shot through the chest.