Break Your Heart

I was just out driving, and I passed the Firefighters Memorial Building, or whatever that thing is down the street on 131. The marquee in front of the building had a message on it that read something like this:

"It's sad how it takes a disaster to bring the people of the world together."

I don't think that's verbatim, but it's something along those lines. Presumably, it's in reference to what's going on in Haiti. Well, if what that statement suggests were true, yes, you'd have to say that's sad. But it's not true. Earthquake in Haiti? Nope, that's not enough to bring the world together. What would be? Nuclear holocaust? Maybe. Short of that, though, nothing can bring this world together. Most of us are relatively isolated. That's not our fault, it's just how we're wired. We can only cram so many people into our monkeyspheres. I don't know anybody in Haiti. I'm sorry that there's suffering going on there, but I just don't have room for any sympathy beyond that. I don't apologize for that, nor do I feel that I should. It's the way that nearly all of us feel, even if most of us won't articulate it for fear of not being politically correct. Whatever. Nearly anybody who says that they really, truly care about the suffering of people they don't even know...they're lying to themselves. Even people who contribute to a cause like that, who make donations of money or food or clothing to victims of disasters and the like, even a frightening number of those people who make such a contribution aren't doing it out of the goodness of their heart. They're just doing it to promote their own public image. And then you've got folks like Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson who want to take advantage of a bad situation to further some bizarre pseudo-political position

Am I too jaded, too cynical? I have a hard time believing that I am. Seems to me that I'm the only one willing to recognize the world and the people who inhabit it as they are. I'm not saying that there isn't good in the world, and I'm not saying that there aren't good and sincere people. I am saying, however, that these people are relatively few and far between, and I am saying that too few people can be honest enough with themselves and others to admit that a tragedy like the earthquake in Haiti has no real effect on their lives. It can be sad in theory, but it's okay if it doesn't break your heart.