the closer to home a tragedy is the more we feel it. im sure the people in Newtown who didnt know anyone personally are more affected than someone in Oregon. the further we get away form the epicenter the less the impact when comparing similar events.

I agree with this.

My husband is a police officer. A few years ago, he worked a particularly nasty suicide case. It really got under his skin and affected the way he thought about things. He was at the epicenter of that tragedy. I was empathetic to his issues because I worked at the same agency at the time, I knew the details, and knew why it hit close to home for him. I could not feel as deeply as he did though, because I was not at the scene and I was not directly affected by the incident.

The Conneticut incident affects me differently because I am a mother to a 4 year old child, who will be in kindergarten next year. She looks like the children who were killed - it is very easy for my mind to place her at that event. That makes me more emotional about this event.

I do think that Americans have insulated themselves against world news. We got to a point where we thought "This is the greatest country in the world and no one else matters" but we didn't realize that "This is the greatest country in the world because everyone else matters."