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2003-02-02 - 7:23 p.m.

Tragedy Strikes Again

Like most Americans, I was shocked and saddened by the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy yesterday. My mom called to tell me the news around 9 am and I jumped out of bed to watch TV. Took awhile to comprehend exactly what was going on. I watched coverage most of the day. First I was glued to the TV set, then after awhile, I started doing stuff around the apartment while listening to the TV set. I'd hear a new piece of news and run back to the TV for awhile, then they'd start speculating even further, saying the same things over and over again, and reshowing all the same footage.

About 6 or 7, I finally had to watch something else. But it was really strange, because in the morning, I really expected coverage to dominate the TV and radio all day. But by 11 or noon, only a few of the local stations and the news stations were still doing continuous coverage. And I was surprised to find radio stations started in with music again after only a few hours.

I don't know why I expected coverage to last longer...I guess I was remembering all the 9/11 stuff. When they first started playing music on the radio (about 3 days after 9/11), I was bothered. I didn't WANT to listen to music. It was so unfair. All those dead and missing people. Doing anything that resembled enjoyment felt incredibly selfish. I had the same sense yesterday, but as the hours passed, it seemed that many people were getting back to their normal lives so quickly, and the shuttle disaster was becoming just another depressing news story.

I suppose we're getting more used to handling these terrible things as a nation.

But it's still awfully damn sad.