It would be easier not to care so much.

I cried myself to sleep last night. I couldn't stop thinking about our boys in Iraq - and I shuddered with the sorrow their families must be feeling. My brothers are 17 and 19. But for a twist of fate, they would have been the ones coming home with a bullet holes in their heads and flags on their caskets.

In my sorrow, I struggle with my growing disillusionment towards humanity. I have made many life changes in the past years - vegetarianism being the most visible - all triggered by my desire to do no harm in a world bent on destruction. I realized last night, staring at my darkened ceiling, that I am trying to isolate myself. I am distancing myself from all that is "typical American life". Which is all fine and good - I like the awareness and individuality that I am developing. But by distancing myself from the problem, am I simply trying to distance myself from the responsibility?

I don't eat meat, so I don't have to worry about the inhumane practices in the meat industry.
I ride my bike or walk if possible, so I don't have to think about the dwindling gasoline supply.
I am not going to have children, so overpopulation is not my concern.
My brothers aren't going into the army, so the army's business is it's own.

If I change my own actions, is it enough? Can I stop eating meat, and ride my bike more often, and adopt a child from a third world country, and consider myself part of the solution? If I do nothing to change others, I am not so much making things better, as I am NOT making things worse. (Or not making things as worse as I could be.)

Is that enough?