In the 1970's there was a picture of a small Vietnamese girl running down the street after being burned from napalm. That picture was everywhere for years. THAT picture is as fresh in my mind as any of my family photos.
In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings, I am sheltering myself from news broadcast, newspapers and even social media conversations about the event. It's not that I am not horrified and concerned about this event, but as an overly sensitive person, I find myself overwhelmed by all the coverage.
I care...deeply, but this didn't happen to me. If I watch all the coverage and footage, it becomes imprinted in my mind. It will become MY memory as if it did happen to me. I would feel such empathy for everyone involved that their suffering would become my suffering.
What I have come to realize is something has to change. Either I have to hear less of the bad catastrophes of the world or I have to change into a less caring person, less of what makes me, me.
I'm not wanting to live in a fantasy world. I'm not wanting to bury my head in the sand. But I also don't want to know every detail of every horrible event that happens or hear them until they are etched so deep upon my soul that I "remember" them too.
I know that bad things can happen and there will still be beautiful and goodness in the world. Those are the stories I am choosing to look for out of Boston. And there are plenty. From runners running to the hospitals to try and donate blood and people in the city opening up their homes to people stranded after the bombing to runners giving their medals to other runners that didn't make it across the finish line.
Goodness will always overcome. Love will always conquer hate. And Fox or MSN News will never convince me otherwise.
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