a shaky beginning

I'm not sure what to make of the start of the new year. On a personal level, things are just the same, nothing exciting, and it's beginning to irritate me. But on the global level, it seems things are anything but stable.

Collapse, that's the word for it. Ice rink collapse in Germany, building collapse in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Maktoum dying in Australia, Ariel Sharon clinging to life in Israel, floods in Indonesia, and the list goes on.

Just like many people out there, I've become desensitised to the news of the world, reading and seeing tragedies day in and day out and then moving on to bitching about my little life. But I'm in a phase right now where the news of the world is bringing me down, where I can't seem to find any hope in higher powers, if they do indeed exist.

Meanwhile, I live with a relative who is depressed and seems to have lost all hope in life, and all I want to do is figuratively give her a kick in the ass and tell her that her life isn't so bad compared to the tragedies of the world. I thought that the older we become, the less self-centered we become, and that we become more tuned in to the human condition. Not so in this case.

I wish the tragedies of the world could make me get up and do something about it rather than sit here and feel like crap about it, but there is still something holding me back. Maybe it's the feeling of being powerless to such enormous happenings, maybe it's fear, maybe it's that I don't really care enough. I don't know.

Being in the media, I was thinking the other day of how it would go if someone started up a paper filled with good news. Would the world accept such a thing, or are human beings just attracted to the tragedy of others? Don't you think we need a few pages a day to restore our faith in humanity?

With all the horrible things happening in the world, it's easy to forget that humanity also generates love and happiness, not just death and destruction. But I'd love to hear about those good things as much as I need to hear about the bad things, just to keep things balanced out. I personally can't remember the last bit of good news coming out of the media. Maybe someone can share?