Leave it to John Stewart to add a little perspective. Last night, John Stewart hosted Ali Allawi, author of the newly published book "The Occupation of Iraq." Stewart noted that this country was trying to come to grips with the senseless deaths of thirty-two Virginia Tech students, and contrasted that with the day in Iraq. In Iraq, over three hundred were killed in a day of bombings; random acts of violence that, like the VT shootings, damage the psyche. Only it is worse in Iraq, where the bombings happen day after day, and where bodies are dumped on the street after a night of killing.

Perspective.

Are we simply numb to the violence in Iraq? Are we so self-absorbed that all that matters to us is what happens to Americans in America? Are we so indifferent that we care more about the contestants on American Idol than we do about life and death? Would we care more if those were our family members, our loved ones, killed? We certainly seem to care more when those killed are Americans. Would we care more if the pictures from this war, the bodies of those killed, and the caskets of the fallen soldiers, were not so carefully hidden from our view?

Perspective.