It is hard to be shocked by the violence these days

I just can't muster up the shock anymore.
I certainly feel sadness, and I feel some outrage, some concern for the future. But it is hard to get too freaked out about anything in 2017.
This recent mass shooting in Las Vegas should have sent a shockwave through all of us. More than 50 people were killed in a shooting at an outdoor music festival, with hundreds injured. Yes, it is horrifying and it is sad. But shocking? Not really.
This is not a comment on politics or guns or any of the regular suspects. This is a comment on us as a people. We are so used to shocking incidents of violence that we are now pretty much just numb to them.
In recent weeks we have had to contend with huge, deadly storms that are still in the headlines. Puerto Rico was devastated and will be a disaster scene for months to come.
And now, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. So we do what we always do, we send out “thoughts and prayers” and we go about our daily lives. This didn't happen to us, right?

But it did happen to us. All of these events, events that have become more numerous over recent years, serve to break us down. They dull our senses. It is human nature to generally hold your head up and move on. It's what we do – it's what we have to do.
But I worry that our initial reaction to these events, while sad, is too much of a shoulder shrug. Yes, we first look for a culprit to blame (there's that human nature again), but we move on fairly quickly if we aren't personally affected.
I speak of myself here, too. I woke to the news of the shooting last week and saw a message from a friend who lives in Vegas saying he was OK. Good to know. Sad to see the scenes of terror.
Time to take a shower and get ready for work.
Now, I am a pretty compassionate, emotional person. I come from a family of huggers and criers. Trust me, you never want to watch “Field of Dreams” with me. It is a real sob fest.
But I just can't seem to muster the shock and outrage that should come on the heels of a horrible event like this.
Everyone I talked to seemed the same way – resigned to the fact that this is just life in 2017 America. Bad things happen, just be glad it didn't happen to you or your family this time.
Move on.
This does not give me comfort, and it makes me wonder about kids growing up in this world. By the time they are adults, they will have seen so much human tragedy that it will have to have some sort of negative affect on them, won't it?
For those not directly affected, these events will fade until the next tragedy. We will continue through life, zombie-like, as these horrifying events continue to happen with more frequency.
There will be an end game to all of this, of course. There has to be, right?