The price of pain ease

I make no secret of the fact that I have a very happy life. I am very lucky to have a family that I love, pets who are constant source of comfort and amusement, a job that I (mostly) like and that I live in a perfectly situated house with enough resources to do things that I enjoy. I filled in this survey that somebody put up on Richard Herring's guestbook saying pretty much the same.

What, then, is my response to the events in Beslan and
this heartfelt post from Billy?

Should I feel guilty for the priviledged life that I lead? Should I be content with reading and watching as much of the news as I can bear before turning my face away? Is donating a little to charity each month sufficient to salve my conscience?

I don't really know ... I feel a mute anger at the despicable acts of the hostage takers, but the brutal acts of the Russian forces in Chechnya should not be forgotten either.

Sitting here on my sofa on a warm late summer's evening, with a view of the flower strewn profusion of my garden and the prospect of a cold beer in a short while I really can't understand what would drive somebody to shoot a child, or to strap on a suicide bomber's belt and destroy a crowded bus, or to fire rockets into houses from a helicopter gunship, or to put a dog lead on a frightened and naked prisoner.

Are there any answers? Perhaps not ...