A little while ago I saw a tweet that a little girl had been shot in the city of Rochester. Subsequent tweets say she is 11 and was shot in the face, but her injuries are not life threatening. 

I love when the media reports that injuries are not life threatening. I often wonder if injuries like the one reported today are life altering. How does a little girl deal with being shot in the face?  According to the story some fool started firing a gun and apparently this little girl was in a car that happened to be in the way. How do they explain that to her?

I grew up in a small town in central New York where killings were a big deal. If someone was shot or shot and killed it was front page news and all you heard about on the evening news. It was shocking and a little scary. Since I became a Rochester resident 15 years ago I’ve noticed that I don’t even pay attention to the murders and shootings anymore. A child getting shot certainly gets my attention, but it is not nearly as shocking as it would have been while I lived in my small town haven. 

To be honest it makes me sad that I am ‘used’ to news of people being shot. I’m sure it’s not all because I moved out of a sleepy little town and into a big(er) city. Certainly growing up is a factor, as is the evolution of the internet and a 24/7 news stream, but I can’t help but wonder if I ad never left my hometown would I still be shocked by people killing each other. 

After reading about the little girl, I followed a link in another tweet that led to a youtube video of a man being killed in Libya. It was apparently taken by someone in a crowd with a flip cam or phone and it was very graphic. There was a crowd and as one man runs across the street he falls dead with a gun shot through his head. There was  lots of blood and then the crowd seemed to get very irritated. It was disturbing, but it was also reality.  

I understand that death is part of life and thanks to the internet we can see it happening everywhere in real time. Of course earlier in the day I watched a video of a woman with a spinal injury who was able to walk down the aisle on her wedding day with the assistance of her father and brother. That video was very happy – the smile on her face told the entire story. 

Despite all that I see, I don’t understand how an 11 year old girl comes to be shot in the face sitting in the back of a car. I bet most people don’t understand, so I doubt I’m alone. At least in Libya they are fighting for a reason. Getting shot in the back of a car is meaningless. 

I really have no point with this post except to get out some of the disturbing images and stories I’ve seen today. Sometimes I am astounded at the things going on all around me, both good and bad and it feels good to get it out of my mind and into print (or blog or whatever).