A rotten place

Another shoot-out on a US highs school was in the news today. What struck me this morning, when I heard it on the radio, was that it didn't even shock me anymore. As I was discussing earlier this week (actually about some other news item) with Ziena: we're getting numb when it comes to horrible stuff. There's such an overload of tragic events coming at us through the various media outlets every day, it doesn't bother us anymore.

Two years ago the big tsunami in Asia took place. I remember the first couple of days (it was Christmas), everyone was glued to the television and constantly giving to charity to help the victims. Then, just a couple of days later, the impact started to get less and less, until nobody cared anymore. It didn't mean the tragedy was any less, it just meant we couldn't be bothered to care anymore. With an overload of horrible images, one can only go so far in feeling sympethatic or shocked.

I'm not blaming myself or anyone else for this, but the fact remains it's a bad thing. Loads of people involved with the shoot-out will be suffering from trauma as I'm writing this, and still it's only one of the many headlines I read today. The world has just gotten such a rotten place, we've gotten completely numb.

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