It has been said and said — there is a war on and Americans shop for Christmas. This disconnect between here and there – there being Iraq, where a war is being waged in our name and here where we are privileged to commune with friends and family.

The disconnect. I lived through the Viet Nam war. As a child I was baffled that life could go on as usual while such terrible things were on the television news.

As an adult, I accept the split screen state of life. Every moment there is the time and place we are in, AND the excruciatingly terrible things going on elsewhere in the world.

Our daily lives consume us. We live in a state of forgetfulness — very me-centered, family-centered, community centered.

And then we see a photograph or read an article or see a movie — and our connection to others is awakened. Our empathy aroused.

Integration. How do we integrate our lives: the knowledge of such pain and cruelty right around the corner and across the world.

How do we not succumb to guilt and dispair?

LOVE: we must work to reduce the pain of others.