Dark Day

Yesterday was a bit depressing in terms of international events. Just watching the news was enough to make me want to crawl into bed and pull the cover over my head. It was the one year anniversary of the Beslan school siege, in which 344 civilians were killed. Nearly 200 of those fatalities were children, and many hundreds more were injured. It is impossible to put any figures to the psychological trauma inflicted. Yesterday also brought news of the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. Most distressing is the lawless desperation and violence developing in the affected regions. ><Side Note: I hope that both Nathan, Hope and Melanie (as well as their family and friends) are safe and secure.>< In addition to these two tragedies, there were the deaths in Iraq. Not from gunfire or bombs, but from fear. The death of nearly 1000 Shia pilgrims in a stampede caused by rumours of an imminent suicide bomb attack. Add on to these three incidents the on-going devastation in Niger and a handful of the 'usual' incidents on local news (the same stuff as in Canada)... The evening news was quite the depressing half-hour. I promise not to be such a downer next time I write here. Anyways, thanks for listening to my ranting.

"Your regularly scheduled programming will resume shortly. Please stand by."

Final Note: The photograph in this entry was stolen from CBC.ca. It shows a child playing in one on the football stadiums in which people were trying to seek shelter from the hurricane. There were lots of photos to choose from depicting the events I have discussed above. I figured this one isn't overwhelmingly depressing, and really just a very compelling photo. The beam of light from the broken roof makes it seem very surreal and alien abduction-ish.