Western World Bubble Syndrome

I finally got around to doing some constructive reading on the web today and was stunned to see the immense damage and loss of life in Haiti yesterday/today. This morning Kyle mumbled something along the lines of "Haiti can't get a break" and pointed to a headline, which just barely registered as I went about my morning routine. I know that life goes on, you have to keep going and all the other platitudes people express in times of crisis, but it just feels wrong to worry about anything other than the people living this kind of crisis. This isn't history - this is today - right now. I can't believe I was just wrestling with what size of shoe to order, I dedicated a whole 20 minutes to this. It all goes back to my mission to live more consciously. Sadly, it seems like there's a catastrophe of this magnitude at least once a year but why must I wait for one of these to happen to be reminded of how much I have, how little I truly need and how lucky I am to have born into the jackpot of civilization called the US of A. I'm not saying tomorrow I won't be griping about something silly regarding baby poop or puke, I'm just saying I want to be more conscious of how good I have it and live gratefully EVERY day, not just when I'm reminded of how much suffering there is in the world.