March 1st.

"Nothing travels faster than light, with the exception of bad news, which follows its own rules." -Douglas Adams

Today I was assigned by my Oral Communications teacher to read three news articles. The first was a horrific and detailed description of the damages done by a very recent earthquake in Chile. The article made an effort to focus on the lootings that had occured in the midst of the havoc, while including death tolls and numbers of survivors at strategic intervals. "Shocked survivors were left without power, water, or food," the page read, pulling at my empathy and pumping me with pathos.

The second was a political and pompous article on global warming. The title read, "How do you convince people of global warming in a snow storm?" as though the higher-ups really were perplexed by this question. This was confirmed when, by the end of the article, the conclusion seemed to simply say on their behalf, "Just trust us--it's happening." It gave statistics and NASA research claiming that this past decade has been the warmest yet. It also included some Al Gore dialogue, which....well. Need I say more?

The third article almost seemed quiet and resigned as it told of a very tragic, very recent storm in Europe. This storm definitely claimed less lives than say, the earthquake in Chile. It was not as government coddled as the global warming article. However, it seemed to hit closer to home than both, specifically naming situations in which lives were lost.

Other than the fact that all were depressing in their own special way, these articles had much in common. On the surface, of course they were all factual updates on recent weather issues that the public is at least in some way interested in. However, on a deeper level, each of these articles had the ability, carried a certain weight...that made me walk away from them feeling more aware and more opinionated (due to the fact that I was more informed) than I was when I arrived here. My apathy corroded, at least to a certain degree, as I was quietly and gradually removed from my little world and given a peek inside a bigger one.

I suppose the entry that caught my attention the most was the last entry I read on the European storm. The article pointed a tactful finger at the conditions of France's sea walls, which were allegedly old and weak. When confronted and criticized about the matter, France's President simply stated, "This is not the time." Although the article seemed to portray this as a cowardly dodge from the line of fire, I couldn't help but feel differently. As much as the loss of lives is tragic, and as much as I may feel differently if I was a family member of one of the deceased or missing, and even though it may be true that the death toll would have been less if the sea walls had only been thought of sooner, it concerns me that in the midst of a tragedy as volatile and uncontrollable as a natural disaster, the public is still looking for someone to point the finger at. Isn't that just like humans?