With all the talk about how the American democracy is cynical and broken, what is the world going to make of the events on the floor of the House of Representatives this evening, when, in the midst of the passage of the breakthrough on the debt ceiling, Gabrielle Giffords returned? It is hard to recall many moments more dramatic. In the midst of the roll call of the vote in the House, the lower chamber was suddenly swept by applause, tentatively at first, then with growing fervor, as House members, one by one, then in groups, grapsed that the Congresswoman of Arizona was entering the chamber.

It was the first time Mrs. Giffords had entered the House chamber since she’d been shot, and nearly killed, on that terrible day in January at Tuscon. Eventually the cameras found Mrs. Giffords, looking trimmer and weaker than before but undeniably alert and cheerful as she traded hugs and smiles. Her office put out a statement that said she hadn’t wanted to risk not being there if needed to be the vote that might have saved the country from default. No matter how one felt about the deal on debt (it passed with a bipartisan majority), it was an astonishing, uplifting moment in a Congress that is all too tarnished. We’d like to think of it as a reminder of how much America’s democracy means to all of us.