Spring Break
Who cares what happens 'over there?'
Sanjai Tripathi
Issue date: 12/2/08 Section: Forum
We were in India for my cousin's wedding three years ago and stopped in to visit some family in Bombay for a few days. The day before Thanksgiving in 2005, we were touring the city and visited the landmark Taj Palace Hotel one evening. I took a picture from the same three-quarter angle as the burning building photo that has recently been on front pages around the world.
This week and last I've written about members of my extended family who happen to be at the geographic epicenter of recent headline news events. Last week it was about my retired autoworker aunts and uncles from Detroit, waiting to see if their pension funds will survive the year.
This week, I'm shouting out to relatives in Bombay, also called Mumbai, where last week terrorists armed with rifles and grenades stormed a number of buildings.
One of those buildings was the Taj Palace. In all, at least 150 people were killed in the attacks, and scores more injured.
Sometimes I think when we in the United States see the news, it doesn't really register. Things happening in other places feel distant, disconnected or vaguely unreal.
The world is a big place, and a lot of it has unpleasant things happening on a regular basis. The modern world brings us updates and images of those happenings, but unless there is something compelling to hook us in and help us relate, it all just mixes together into a blur of "over there."
This effect is trumped, though, when you know people over there or have been there yourself. If you have that connection, events in distant places feel vivid and definitely real.
I'm not so quixotic that I believe we should all stop to care about every disaster in far corners of the planet. Everyone has his or her own life to lead, and there isn't time to stop for "We are the World" moments every day.
And anyway, it's perfectly understandable and natural that we don't pay acute attention to other countries. Our country is big, safe, prosperous and geographically isolated.
This week and last I've written about members of my extended family who happen to be at the geographic epicenter of recent headline news events. Last week it was about my retired autoworker aunts and uncles from Detroit, waiting to see if their pension funds will survive the year.
This week, I'm shouting out to relatives in Bombay, also called Mumbai, where last week terrorists armed with rifles and grenades stormed a number of buildings.
One of those buildings was the Taj Palace. In all, at least 150 people were killed in the attacks, and scores more injured.
Sometimes I think when we in the United States see the news, it doesn't really register. Things happening in other places feel distant, disconnected or vaguely unreal.
The world is a big place, and a lot of it has unpleasant things happening on a regular basis. The modern world brings us updates and images of those happenings, but unless there is something compelling to hook us in and help us relate, it all just mixes together into a blur of "over there."
This effect is trumped, though, when you know people over there or have been there yourself. If you have that connection, events in distant places feel vivid and definitely real.
I'm not so quixotic that I believe we should all stop to care about every disaster in far corners of the planet. Everyone has his or her own life to lead, and there isn't time to stop for "We are the World" moments every day.
And anyway, it's perfectly understandable and natural that we don't pay acute attention to other countries. Our country is big, safe, prosperous and geographically isolated.
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