Vicious Cycle

When the news of former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto's assassination hit the US news cycle, I was in the middle of a non-stop block of 30 Rock on DVD.

In fact, I didn't learn of her tragic death for three hours. My excuse? A slow day at the house and a play all feature.

Once I heard about the news, I was dumbfounded. By the senseless act of violence and hate, and how I'd been too wrapped up in my own mess, my comedy, my DVD, my morning.

There are people across the country, too many, who have no idea what happened today. Most were probably watching TV or movies, just two clicks away from the internet, steps away from a newspaper or a friend.

What's my point? I'm getting there, I swear. We're given everything when we want it. We have so many options that we can see what we want and skip what we don't. I enjoy avoiding the commercials on my Tivo, or with DVDs and I can argue that I'm not missing much. But by ducking those chance encounters, I'm really missing...a lot.

People move faster, technology catchs up with them and the cycle continues. Violence tears families apart, the Earth melts away, people are eating too much. The cycles feed into each other and both of them are messing us up. But how do you change that? Does anyone really want it to change? Or is it just something nice to think about?

I just don't know where to start.