awareness?

I was ruminating a bit upon the events of the past Monday and Tuesday and was somewhat troubled by that, and then we had prayer on Friday morning when Kumuthan brought up that very point that had been troubling me as he was praying. And think it bears mention here, so here goes (even if it's a couple of days late...)

Well, as you might have gathered, i felt rather affected by the VT shootings, which saw a total of 33 dead, on Mon; and more so than the average person here since i was, albeit only for a semester, a college student in the US myself. And then, i forget how, but anyways i came to hear about the series of bombings in Baghdad that happened soon after in which nearly 200 people lost their lives. And the very fact that i forgot how i learned about the latter incident suggests how relatively insignificant the news was compared to the VT massacre, at least as portrayed by the media. Also, the very fact that i'd to source for a link to the news of the bombings on wikipedia rather than on a news site suggests how quickly this tragedy has faded into the background, especially when compared to what happened at VT.

I definitely have no intention of taking anything away from what happened at Blacksburg - such a tragedy simply cannot be brushed over. Nor am i suggesting that comparing the number of fatalities should be a gauge of how 'serious' a tragedy is. No matter who and how many people die, the effect upon those concerned is still something no one would want to be put through. But why is it that we (myself included) pay so much attention to one event, when the other, which i'd argue deserves more than a mere mention, seems to have become a mere footnote in comparison to the former? The close to 200 people killed in Baghdad by Sunni extremists were no less deserving of a tribute to their tragic and unnecessary deaths than the 32 who lost their lives at the hands of a lone gunman. Is it because violence has become such a way of life in Iraq that the latest bombings serve as nothing more than an added chapter to the basket case that is what the 'American-liberated' Iraq has become, whereas in the states with such incidents being relatively few and far between any such occurrence deserves greater mention? Or is it because we can identify more closely with the victims of the VT massacre than we can with those in Iraq? Whatever it is, such reasonings really cannot hold water, and yet this is the sad reality that we are faced with.

Come to think of it, how much of the sufferings in the world are we aware of and are interceding over? The horrifying situation in Darfur comes to mind. I myself knew next-to-nothing about what has been going on over there until i was at UNC and there were some IV thingies going on to pray for what has been going on over there. In fact, at this point in time, i'll admit that i still know little about what has been going on. I'd like to attribute it solely to the lack of media coverage but it goes further than that - my own apathy. But just take a look - the estimated number who have died as a result of what has been going on over there ranges from 200000 to 450000. How can i, especially as a Christian who is constantly reminded of God's undeserving sacrificial love for all of us, and His call for us to love others as He has us, not bother about a situation of such magnitude at all?

It's a struggle, i'll give you that. I still struggle too. But i guess the point i'm getting at is that, no matter how hard the struggle is, we need to be more aware of the things that have been going on in this fallen world, and actively intercede for them. God has put us here for a reason - i'm always reminded and remind people of that. May we never become so cosy with where we are that we forget of those around us, be they nearer or further away, and the fact that we all are equally in need of His grace and mercy.