While I agree it’s important to learn from tragic events that occur outside our immediate community, we can become overwhelmed by the barrage of negative news. We’re not created to soak in every tragedy as if it were ours. “Progress,” like Drummond says, “has never been a bargain. You have to pay for it.” It takes a toll on our souls.

Naysayers might object: “We need to know what’s happening around the world, to stay abreast of current affairs. We must learn from our collective experience.”

It’s been a difficult month. We’ve witnessed multiple tragedies. No doubt Charlie Kirk’s killing has been on the forefront of our minds. How could it not be? The public nature of his murder was visually disturbing.

But that’s not all that happened this month. The same day that Kirk was killed, a student at Evergreen High School shot two of his classmates and then killed himself. This all occurred just a week after the country was reeling from the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska. Although she was killed in August, media attention spiked the week before Kirk’s death due to graphic video footage of her stabbing appearing online and in the news. These tragic stories even overshadowed the next day’s memorial of September 11, 2001, a terrorist attack that impacted the world.

We Weren’t Made for This

Anyone watching the news or social media has been served a barrage of visual carnage. Although these tragedies happened in different parts of the country (to say nothing of tragedies occurring elsewhere in the world), they have been funneled directly to us. We’ve seen the videos. We’ve witnessed the tragedies. We’ve heard the cries of sorrow.

That’s a lot to take in. Indeed, it’s too much. It’s only because of media technology (news, radio, and the internet) that we’re able to witness all these horrific events.

It hasn’t always been this way. Up until the last few seconds of human history, we never were burdened with tragedies near and far. We weren’t saddled with the sorrow of every victim and their families. But now we are. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be this way.

Listen to what a Texas pastor said about witnessing numerous tragic events:

Could it be that God didn’t wire us to carry every event, taking place in every part of the world, at every moment, as if it were ours? Could it be that technology has produced a faux omniscience and omnipresence that is hurting mankind and not helping it?

Two Problems That Hurt Our Souls

This is an insightful assessment. The news and social media have given us ringside seats to every event, tragedy, and evil act that happens in any part of the planet. Even if we’re just paying attention to national news, that’s still an overwhelming amount of tragedy. It’s not something we’re created to handle. It’s made possible, though, because of television and the internet. Though technology often helps us, it also creates two problems that hurt our soul: faux omnipresence and faux omniscience.

Throughout human history, we’ve only had to carry events that directly affect us, our family/friends, and our local community. That typically limits the number of tragedies we’d experience in any given time period. Today, with the internet and social media, we can witness every evil event. If we miss it, a recording is readily replayed online. The carnage is funneled through our eyes and embedded in our soul. What we witness can be in the next town, the next state, or on the other side of the planet. No matter where it happens, we see it. It’s like we’re everywhere.

But it’s a faux omnipresence. We’re not actually there, but we’re made to experience these events like we were. We soak them in and feel the pain that others feel, albeit to a lesser degree. We scroll through our news feed and witness another tragedy. Then another. In a matter of minutes, we’ve watched multiple evil events. It’s overwhelming.

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