Trying to Wrap My Mind Around It

There are times when living overseas can be insulating in a good way. For instance, I know extremely little about the American teenager missing in Aruba, and the anti-war mom protest at President Bush's ranch is something I've only read about online. And from what I hear, it sounds like both stories have been covered ad nauseum on American television, much to the chagrin of some friends and family that I've talked to lately, so I might've been spared to news overload in those two cases. But sometimes, being insulated from the world of 24 hour a day news- well, 24 hour a day news in english anyway- can prove really frustrating for me. For instance, this week, I'm trying like crazy to wrap my mind around exactly how big the devastation is in New Orleans, post-hurricane Katrina. I've read about it online and in the newspaper, but the scope of what I'm reading about is very, very difficult to grasp, especially without ready access to television. Possibly thousands of people dead? It's a tough concept to wrap your mind around. And maybe those of you who are stateside are having a tough time making sense of all of the facts, too.Over here, though, it just feels like we're so, so far away... And it's frustrating to realize that divide.