Just unreal....

Words cannot express the horror and sorrow I feel sometimes when I watch the news. This morning as I listen for any new reports on the bridge collapse in the Twin Cities, that is my state of mind. What is it about tragedies that draws us in so?

Admittedly, part of the attraction is the normal human nature that makes us all slow down when we see an accident by the side of the road. But part of my need to listen comes from my connections to the Cities. Even though it has been 15 years since I've lived there, I can picture that section of freeway and imagine the rush hour traffic there. Even though it has been 15 years since I graduated from seminary and left St. Paul, I still have classmates and friends and connections to the whole area.

Last night I got an email from Martha (my choir director and friend) telling me that she had heard from all of her family. All were ok. However, they were still waiting to hear from a few friends. As for old seminary friends? I wouldn't even begin to know who to start calling. That's why I sit and absorb news reports, looking for familiar names and faces.

They say we have six degrees of separation to anyone anywhere in the world. Well, in this case, I would say I have no more than 2 or 3 degrees of separation from most of the people on that bridge. I may not know who any of those people are, but I'm still connected. Tragedies like this affect us all.