Tribute to Tom

By Rep. Jay Inslee

Seattle, October 20, 2001

We are gathered here to add a name to the role call of courageous leaders of vision who have been struck down by ignorance and fear: Mahatma Ghandi, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and now, Tom Wales. All of these leaders dedicated their lives to ideas that, at the time, were in doubt. All created controversy. All were struck down. And, most importantly, all of their ideas eventually did, or will, come to fruition, because the world knows that the dream does not die, just the dreamer.

Every advance in human history has involved a leader who was willing to challenge the tyranny of the status quo. Tom Wales was such a leader.

But Tom's dedication to public service, focusing on the "we" not just the "me" didn't stop at 5o'clock at night. Tom could not rest with the knowledge that 10 children will die by gun violence today and tomorrow and the day after that. He could not live with the knowledge that 3 or 4 teenagers would take their daddies unlocked handgun and in a spell of brief despair, take their own lives. So instead of simply noting their stories on page 34 of the paper, Tom threw everything he had into the creation and growth of Washington Ceasefire. And by his efforts, he forced a public recognition of an ugly fact that too many guns are getting into the hands of children and into the hands of criminals. And his efforts followed in the prototype of a great American, Tom Paine because they were both revolutionary and both had common sense. And when his work and his motives were distorted his by opponents, merchants of fear, he asked us to carry on without hesitation and we did.

Now Tom did not win all his battles, but he fit into that honored class of heroes recognized by Teddy Roosevelt who said "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much, because they live in the grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

But you can be assured that as when you throw a pebble into a pond the ripples ring out forever. So when you put a leader like Tom in our community his message will continue to ring out across Puget Sound until his vision is realized.

They say death is more universal that life because everyone dies but not everyone really lives. Tom Wales really lived. He had a life of dedication, commitment and inspiration.

I know he inspired me. I suspect that he inspired you, and you can be guaranteed that his inspiration will have a renewed power as we say farewell to our friend Tom Wales.