Have I Become Heartless?

From the very second i caught glimpse on Sky News of the Jet smashing into the side of the WTC in NY on September 11th 2001, my heart bled for the victims and their families.

On 12th October 2002 i got the most gut-wrenching feeling when i heard that an explosive device had ripped through a nightclub full of people and felt great sadness that those people would not be coming home from their holidays.

When 4 devices ripped apart 2 passenger trains in the Spanish capital on 11th March 2004 i felt less pain than the previous two bombings but still had some feelings of anger towards the people that had carried out the attacks.

And on 7th July 2005 (Today), when 4 devices were detonated in London (MY OWN COUNTRY), i felt less emotion than i did during all three of the previous attacks!

Dont get me wrong im still angry, and my heart goes out to all the victims and their families, its just i honestly thought that if a terrorist attack ever happened in my home nation id be devastated and uncontrollable with anger, but im not!!!

Have i became heartless or just resigned myself to the fact that we live in an age where terrorism is just a part of everyday life???
Its such a shame that i dont feel extreme anger towards these people anymore because im so used to it happening!


Mic

No Mickey, I don't think you have become heartless. I think that many of us feel like you do. Resigned is one word to sum it up.
But I would also add hopeless as well.

I know with myself, I literally feel sick and my heart ached when 911 happened and then today in London I listened to BBC and listened to the witnesses and could hear the fear in their voice and I felt sick because all I thought was how scared these people must have been. Security has been taken from us; all of us regardless of where we live. But I think there is a point that all of this hurt and hate and torture becomes words and we become detached in a way or at least closed off to all of that pain as a coping mechanisim of sorts.
If we personally filtered all of the hurt around us I think we would literally become consumed by it and it would eat us alive.

With such frequency, i would say people in general are simply getting used to it! It is not just you. I am from the U.K. also, and i do not feel that much emotion either. It may sound like a bad thing to say, i know, but it is the truth.
You are not alone.

i dont think that you have become heartless- i had the same sort of feelings as you- i think it has to do with the fact that ever since september 11th- i have been waiting for an attack on Britain- so the shock factor wasnt there in a way.
It has been a sad day though because that day has come.

Originally posted by DDay
But I think there is a point that all of this hurt and hate and torture becomes words and we become detached in a way or at least closed off to all of that pain as a coping mechanisim of sorts.

You have voted DDay for the Way Above Top Secret award. You have two more votes this month.

Excellent post!

Mic

You are not heartless, dear. Just like the rest of us, you're being conditioned on a daily basis. Its not just you.

Nope, like everyone else said ..you're not heartless, its just that violence in all forms is pumped up in our brains on a daily basis. News, Movies, music, even soap operas ...lol

we become detached ... almost like a ER doctor... the first time he or she has to atend someone with 5 bullet holes, massive blood losse,shcok convulsion etc, he/she may even have to trow up... after a year of ER nights and days...its just another shooting ....

or even when one breaks a leg or an arm for the first time ... the pain is horrible... the second time... it still hurts ...but not that much ... and so on and so on...

Like dgTemp said its not just you.

Mickey Dee,

I think that if you had become heartless, it would never occurred to
you to make this thread. You're ok!

i know eaxactly where your coming from Mickey mate...your not hearst less...i was thinking pretty much the same as you....you know what i think?....

keep your fecking bombs coming you spineless, pathetic cowards and we will keep getting up....and up...and up...and up.....you'll never break our resolve...you are the hunted and the dammed

feck em.....feck em with bells on......there will be judgement

It's merely a survival mechanism that your experiencing. Hey it beats living in fear.

Not necessarily heartless, you're just living. The reason you have no anger is because you have nobody to direct it at. For me there exists confusion but to blame it on some group with no reliable evidence, would just plant the seeds to insanity.

To wage war would be to see more people die, and the only thing to drive a war would be to loose the desire to live your life the way you want to.

You're not heartless, welcome to the "new normal."

Now we realize that we are risking our lives to Islamic terrorism everytime we board a plane, bus or train. When something like this happens we can only be happy that it wasn't worse...

If you watch the news every day, you might have noticed that attacks like the one in London are a DAILY occurance in Iraq, often with even more dead and wounded then there were in London.
You are used to hearing about people die in terrorist attacks.
The only difference here was that the iraqi dead usualy get about 30 secs to 1min segment on the news, and the London attack got a full day of breaking news because it happened at home. Now you are expected to grief more, to be more upset. Your brain is already so conditioned though, that you simply shrug it off as yet another attack.