News Shocks

Oh, a few other things I almost forgot to mention.

The first happened a few weeks ago. I'd been up to just past midnight, and had set the t.v. on "sleep" mode so it would automatically turn off in an hour in case I fell asleep. Just as I settled in bed, an emergency alert interrupted the program... it was an Amber Alert, which means child abduction. A woman had been found murdered in norther Missouri a few hours earlier... with her 8-month fetus cut from her womb. Now how wrong is that? Thanks to the alert, the child was found the next day with two men and a woman. The little girl was rushed to a hospital and, according to the latest I've heard, they managed to stablize her.

The other saddening news comes from Asia. A potent earthquake near Indonesia yesterday triggered a slew of deadly tsunamis that have devastated the entire region around the Indian Ocean. The death toll has already exceeded 22,000, and hundreds of thousands more have been left homeless or missing. The papers said these are the worst tsunamis to hit the region in 40 years, and this could be the costliest disaster... ever.

I swear, modern news and communication is an amazing thing. A small trajedy in my own state, and a monumental trajedy on the other side of the world... both of which I'd never even be aware of, busy enjoying and stressing over the holidays in my own small part of the world. If not for instant News reports. I'm not sure I ever really noticed how disjointed a feeling that is. To feel such profoundness over something that my immediate life does not reflect.. or even intimate, in the slightest bit.