Virginia Tech

The Virgina Tech shooting incident is horrifying. But I find myself strangely numb to it. Images of the thousands of American kids of the same age who've been killed in Iraq float to mind, and how few of us have a similar sense of tragedy about them. And then there are all the Iraqi civilians, including children, who have died in this horrible and horrifying war. The torture our own government has been allowing and encouraging and endorsing is sickening as well.

I do not mean to diminish the Virigina tragedy. The families of those who were killed will never get over the loss. But the fact that there is more outrage over this than thousands and thousands and thousands of deaths in Iraq, and the way in which the evil has gained a foothold as the United States has abandoned long-held principles as it has adopted a "the end justifies the means" approach leaves me puzzled and saddened.