Don't Turn Away.

Sunday, Aug. 24, 2003-10:35 am

Don't forget. Don't turn away.

A few days ago there was an innundation of violence and horror from the Middle East. It was covered in grisly detail in all the media.

With 24 hour news coverage on our high resolution screen TV s, there is an opportunity for voyeurism that we collectively engage in. Every time the news media bombards us with detailed accounts of what human beings are capable of inflicting upon each other, it becomes just a little more commonplace. We become a little more detached.

Should we stare at the horror?

Some are critical of such nonstop imagery ,regarding the suffering of others, saying that it is too sensational , too offensive to our delicate American senses. Quick! There is an emotion in the house! Switch it off, and put on a Seinfeld rerun

Others say it is a misuse and a manipulative vehicle for Fox, C.N.N. , and Rueters to sell and profit from a larger viewer audience. Therefore why be a participant? There is a current debate about American soldier's coffins being banned from media coverage. Did we fight the Brittish Crown for our first ammendment rights for this dictate?

Some say it makes us numb in it's ubiquity, and hence makes our young people more emotionally detached and without empathy for another's suffering.

I personally cried aloud alone in my car when I heard a particular story about a baby whos face and eyes are innundated with shrapnel, who could not be treated right away, because her parents could not be located to sign a release for treatment . Her parents were later found dead.

Maybe it is pointless to allow oneself to be so haunted ?. Maybe it is p.m.s.? For most of us it is so troubling that the only sensible thing to do is get a $4.00 latte at Starbuck's, then compartmentalize the data, blame the political unrest on the leaders, or on the inflammatory nature of "those people" and then quickly put it out of the mind.

I believe that even if we can not do anything about world violence, it is irresponsible to ignore it or to attempt to be emotionally non reactive. Even if it does not directly affect us in our daily life, part of our spirit has already been profoundly effected when others are burned, torn up, dismembered , eviscerated. The greatest tragedy of all is for the observers to disregard what they have seen.

What we see in the media is only a small token of a reality to which it refers. This is what war is. This is what old men in public office, send young dispensable soldiers en masse out to do.

Our ability to turn away without a deeply moving reaction is in an inverse ratio to our compassion and humanity.

Don't forget.

Don't turn away.

Without compassion, we are not very different than a well-trained chimpanzee in a little jacket, riding a bicycle and playing bongo drums at the circus..

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