Earthquakes make me tremble, too

I saw Jacque post something on fb about it being busy at work because of an earthquake in Haiti.  I saw a big picture and story on the home page of BBC.  I read about a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince up.  I read about people panicking, rushing into streets, holding onto anything they could, bleeding from the orifices of their head; about houses sliding into valleys and the U.N. Mission being destroyed and several peacekeepers missing; and then I finally saw a little bit about who is helping.  It takes time to figure out how and where and when and who to help, and people seemed to be right on it.  Obama already had a quote about his thoughts and prayers being with the Haitians and that America is standing by to help.  And I believe there are already dispatches of aid groups heading down.  People are good and news is quick.  And Haitians are incredibly poor.

I guess it's just neat to me to be studying journalism, and see a story like this unfold while I'm reading a book called "The Elements of Journalism."  News is changing.  The way we perceive it, the way it happens, what it's about, and who is reading the news.  Well, now reading is only a fraction of the variety of ways we ingest the news.

Unfortunately, people in Haiti had to be hurt and dying and losing out on everything to get onto my news radar.  What's important to me these days?  Where do I turn for news?  For truth?  Is it OK to not be up-to-speed with all that's happening in the world?  What is knowing these tidbits of information that we glance at during our day good for?  Is it changing us?  How?  How is it helping others?  Is that its goal?  Or is the news purely to provide something to converse about, letting us, the people, do the dialoguing and interpreting and acting?

I'm going to bed.  I won't answer any of these questions tonight.  Maybe not any of them ever.