While You Were Out

There is an amusement-park ride at Disneyland, U.S.A. that reminds visitors that "It's A Small World"

Yet, although I myself am very much an American, I find extremely unnerving the apparent lack-of-empathy many Americans seem to have for events occurring less than half-a-world away.

The grand shift in control of the U.S. Congress, and the sudden resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are obvious attention-getters today, so Americans are understandably distracted by domestic affairs.

But I think the eruption of new conflicts today in the Gaza Strip demands far more media coverage than it is getting in the U.S.

The shifting tides of national policies are mere wrinkles in the fabric of civilization. But when political-religious rivalries evolve into mass killing of innocent populations, that's news worth at least a moment's reflection, IMHO.