I was going to write a rant-post about Cassandra Clare, but decidedly, this is probably more meaningful.

I know I just mentioned this yesterday, but the 10,000 dead I noted has risen to around 17,000 with another approximately 60,000 people, both Chinese and foreign, still unaccounted for.

China was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale with aftershocks over 5.0. One the affected places of interest has been Juyuan Middle School where 30 students out of 300 have since been removed from the rubble they were trapped under when the center of the school fell. (Xinjian Primary School at Dujiangyan has also collapsed. The scene there is about the same.) Remember China’s One Child Policy. Many parents have lost their only child.

“The scenes of destruction and devastation are growing worse by the day in earthquake-hit China. Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan is in Beichuan, one of the areas hardest hit by the quake.” (Fair warning: Al Jazeera do film the dead. As rude as it may be, it’s not graphic.)

I think events like this, loss like this, help me put events that I thought were devastating in perspective. It’s easier to see selfishness and greed in yourself and in other people.

But I also feel frustrated and utterly useless when faced with such things. In the grand scheme of the world, I feel like I should be doing something more. It’s like an itch I don’t know how to scratch and it’s probably only me (being the weird person that I am), but I’ve always felt this way. I really, truly wish I lived for some greater purpose and could help people beyond the realm of “being a friend”.