Vacationing amidst the Chaos

My sister and I are going to Thailand today and I feel a little bit "bu hao yi shi," a little bit guilty. We're not flying to Myanmar via Bangkok on a relief effort mission. We're not heading south to be rescue workers in earthquake-devasted Sichuan province. We're going to Thailand on a vacation. The trip was planned months before any of these natural disasters hit, but even so, our situation juxtaposed with the millions and millions of people suffering makes me realize how fortunate we are, how clueless and safe we have it in our untouched bubble.

It also makes me realize that I am becoming more and more desensitzed to the tragedies we read about everyday in the news, whether it's war-torn Iraq or cyclone ravaged Myanmar. It's almost as if all the suffering and pain in the world has been running like a faucet that only spurts out boiling hot water, or freezing cold water: you leave your hand under there for more than 2 minutes, and you can no longer feel how hot or how cold it is. It's too much, and you become numb. That's how I am now. Numb.

You read about it. You see pictures, hear about stories. The brain processes the info, you react appropriately, but it's as if you can no longer grasp the meaning, the feeling of it...unless it happens to you, or someone close to you.

Who or what do you blame for this desensitization? Violent movies, action flicks? The media's hyper-sensationalization of
"if it bleeds, it reads" news stories?

I think desensitization is inevitable in this age of information and technology. There are pros and cons to this of course. I just hate the fact that it's making me feel like a robot more and more each day.

Get up. Go to computer. Check email. Facebook. World headlines. Eat. Use washroom. Return to computer. Click. Click. Blog. Send. SAVE...

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