CAUTION: PESSIMISTIC ENTRY AHEAD

this morning i was reminded of how desensitized we have become. when someone dies by a bullet, how often do we become shocked or scared for more than 3 minutes (unless it's someone we know of course)? the whole catholic priest fondling little boys, has that already become trite and old news? for goodness sake, priests are molesting boys!!! but we have heard it so often, it just simply isn't a big of a shock to the most of us. we just simply say, "geez. not again. oh well." how about all the innocent mothers and children that are being blown to bits and pieces in palestine and israel?

in high school, mr. gaston, our amnesty international advisor, asked us one day, "what if the news headline read 4,000 kids died today?" i remember thinking to myself, "dang. that would be crazy." it was actually true, he explained. around the world, especially in africa, many kids die every day because of malnutrition, disease, and violence. it's just that the press and the world has become so desensitized to kids dying in africa, that it's no longer "interesting." (i'm not sure how exact the figure he gave us was, but still... that's still a lot)

so the latest clamor that out nation is currently making is about little girls being kidnapped. i'm afraid that the more i hear about it, the less i will read about it on cnn. moreover, the more it shows up on cnn, the less likely i will be inclined to read it. seriously...how many people are still following the details of US troops still searching for Al Qaeda in afghanistan right now? i really hope that they are not risking their lives to protect a country who doesn't even think twice about how lucky we really are if it weren't for soldiers and troops like them.

i think that's a major problem i have with some christians today. they constantly think about how great God is for giving them forgiveness and mercy and for sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross to expiate and propitiate our sins, etc etc etc. not to say that this is bad at all.... probably better than me actually... but i think it's depressing that that's the only thing some usually ever think about: themselves and how their undeserving raw hide was saved.
for example:
person: "Thank you so much Father for saving me from eternal damnation... (goes on for about 10 minutes basically saying the same thing)..."
after he is done praying, he reads headlines about 2 kids and a mother dying by gunfire... and he has no second thoughts about the headline at all.
but what can i say... we're only human.

is all this because our hearts have become so hardened or is it because our heads are so huge and involved with ourselves, we think it will never happen to us or our family? probably a bit of both... but that's always the easy way out of questions of that manner. why? because it requires the least amount of thinking... especially with something we don't really care about.

on another note: what's up with "moisturizing beads" or "exfoliating beads" in soap nowadays? it only makes you feel dirtier... like washing your hands in sand mixed with glue. it only wants to make me wash my hands again with normal soap.