Lani's Blog

Mumbai -How Small is Your World?

"Mom! Look at the TV. India was attacked by terrorists. Some place called Mumbai."





"So, those people are always killing each other."





"No, you don't understand. Terrorists like 9/11. It's awful."





"What's awful, is you're going to make me late for those sales.'





"Don't tell me you're going out today? It's crazy after Thanksgiving."





"That's when the best sales are. I want to get your Dad that HD TV he wants"





Announcer from CNN: "There have been an unknown number of American lives lost and involved in this tragedy..."





"See what happens when you don't stay home like you're suppose to."





"Mom, how can you say that? People have been killed. Americans on vacation for pete's sake. It's not their fault."





"Look, if those people hadn't been trotting all over the world, they wouldn't have been targets. Now I'm going to  the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream*. I may be there a while in line. Let your Dad know, but not what I'm buying. "








This is a conversation I can imagine happening. When I saw the news, the international stories were full of Mumbai. The American news was full of economic woes.  The trampling death of Jdimytai Damour didn't seemed as big a deal as it should have been. Our world view seems pretty small sometimes.




















*The Valley Stream Wal-Mart is where a employee was trampled to death by holiday shoppers. The customers became irate when authorities wanted to close the store.