Among the elements that I formatted for tonight's Arise News Now broadcast was a photograph from the wreckage of the Malaysian plane that crashed in Ukraine. As I zoomed in on the picture (which I do for almost every photo I use), I realized that, among the stuffed animals and other items indicative of parents and children on the flight, there was a copy of a book that was familiar. While the title was in Dutch, the cover art was clearly that of Diary of A Wimpy Kid, a series that my son has loved for years and read over and over. There was a child on that plane who was reading it too, just in a different language. And now that child won't get to read the next book in the series when it comes out this fall. That child won't go to school, or play Minecraft, or annoy his sisters the way only a sibling can do.
Some days, working in news is learning about countries I've never known much about before. Some days, working in news is about helping to explain with pictures what is going on in the world. And some days, working in news is simply about realizing how similar we all are, whether we live half a world apart or not. About realizing that it could be us, or our kids, on that plane. Us or our kids clutching a stuffed animal or reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid one moment, and gone the next.
Some days the news feels very far away. And sometimes, even when it's far away, it feels very close to home.
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