> When I watched the pictures from the WTC tragedy on TV, just half an hour after the first plane had hit, I started to think.
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> I was horrified by it all, of course. I'm normally not easily moved by what I see on the news, because there is too much bad stuff all the time, and it's too far away that I'm able to understand what it's all about. I have a hard time relating to it. But I've found myself on the brink of crying many times during the last two days, and that says a lot, because I don't cry easily.
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> I thought: Is it good for people to see this happen, and even live on TV? I mean, as opposed to just hearing about it or reading about it in the paper, looking at photos? Doesn't it do more damage than good? Aren't the TV stations just feeding our need for sensational stories?
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> But as I felt the chills down my back as I watched the recording of the second plane hitting and the explosions bursting out on the other side, I thought: Oh, my, this is for REAL. This isn't some action movie, although I've seen similar scenes in films many times. There were actual people in those planes and buildings, and they are no more.
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> And as this sunk in, it dawned on me: We NEED to see this. Not to feed our appetite for sensational stories, but to understand what happens all around the world, and how people's lives are touched and destroyed when disaster strikes.

I agree. I have also been thinking about how this may do some good in slowing down the vile public taste for "reality" video shows in which pain, near fatalities and sometimes actual fatalities are presented as entertainment.

I have so far met only one person who did not share my reaction to watching live coverage of the attacks. I guess you all know what my reaction was, because you all felt it too. Maybe that one person is representative of all the people who will continue to cheer for falling buildings and fireballs and explosions, and I don't know what the rest of us can do about that. But I do think (and hope) that there will be fewer such people after these recent events brought "reality" home to us.