i think we should see all the pictures

Rachel just did a commentary on how the worst pictures from disasters and tragedies and war mongering are kept from the public because we "don't need to see that."
well, i think we do. maybe if "we" are exposed to the full scope of the horror, more people will stop being so complacent about war and its attendant atrocities.
"we" aren't children; "we" are the people, and "we" need to know what happens in war. i almost feel as if it is a responsibility to look at all of it. don't clean it up, don't shield my eyes as if i'm a little girl who should not be exposed. Let me know what war is really all about: waste, destruction, unnecessary, premature, gory, horrible death of innocents.
it should not be easy to turn away. that's my opinion. i am very disturbed by what happened yesterday and don't want to forget it; i want to be able to affect some peace in this fucking world even as i feel utterly helpless to do so.

i feel this applies to the deaths of the children in Gaza and wherever war is raging in this fucked up world at any time. how do we get to peace?! maybe if more of us had a fuller apprehension of the horror of war we could get closer. i don't know.

this is coming from a bereaved mother who was excused from identifying the dead body of her daughter who died a violent death by car. i do not advocate seeing pictures that are personally identifying the victims because of the pain those would cause their loved ones. this is a conflict for me admittedly and i have not resolved it in my mind.