... is a real witch, and that’s not the phrase that I want to use, you know?

I've not watched a lot of coverage of the 7.6 earthquake that occurred recently in Pakistan, but I've seen the headlines and caught a few things here and there. And like with any disaster, the media is there, pouncing all over it. Because it's *NEWS*, right?

Sunday night, before heading up to bed, I saw two dazed, confused, stunned people on the news from two different countries who were affected by the same thing.

The first one I saw was a man who had been pulled from the rubble of a building and had apparently survived there for two days before being rescued. All around him people were cheering and yelling, the camera lights bright on his face. Everyone you saw was jubilant and excited, smiles brightening their dirty faces from all the dust.

Except one face – the rescued man. He was dazed, he wouldn't have been standing but for the two men holding him up, one on each side. He looked serious, stunned, and confused. Not even the slightest whisper of a smile on his face. His eyes seemed glazed over – almost unbelieving at his current fate. Somehow, while it was wonderful that the media was there to show this triumph, it also seemed that they should go away quickly and let this man recover.

Right after that, the news cut away to a woman in front of the camera who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was sitting in her living room, with the lights upon her face. Dazed look, glazed eyes, confused, quiet, stunned. Same as the gentleman they had pulled from the rubble half a world away. She was a survivor too, but probably the only one.

The lives of her relatives - upwards of 100 of them - have been claimed by the earthquake, yet there she was with a camera in her face, as dazed and stunned as the man who had been rescued.

I always knew the media was cruel and always hunting for the most newsworthy story, but that's just... distasteful. Let someone mourn their family, their relatives. Even the fact that there's still uncertainty that some may be alive is dashed away for the sake of a sound bite and a face on film...

...but it's the faces that make the story, right? Even if they're stunned.