If I Ignore It Will It Just All Go Away?

Today, some people I know are taking their 4 year old daughter off life support. She had a fever on Friday, now less then a week later she is gone. I know a couple of people who have cancer and are right now going through chemo. I know someone who's mom died last week. I know someone who's wife left him and I want to hate her for it. Some people I know had their 18 year old son killed in a car accident. Someone I know is losing his job soon. And these are just some of the people I know, I haven't even mentioned Africa, the Middle East, poverty, natural disasters, child abuse, etc. Sometimes I feel that in the world balance, the side of suffering/sorrow outweighs the side of joy/happiness.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming to be in the midst of great sorrowing and suffering myself. For one thing I'm a middle class American and for another I'm not going through any of those things listed above. Sure, my husband sometimes does things that hurt me and my children often do things that upset me, but I mean, I should just be glad I have my kids and they are healthy and that I can get upset with them for not sweeping the floor. I've come to a recent conclusion about myself, I need to try to not think about about all these other people's suffering because it can sometimes become overwhelming. Does this make me a bad person? We're supposed to mourn with those that mourn, be empathetic and in-tune to those in need, aware of what is going on in the world around us, but sometimes it's just too much. I'm good enough about wallowing in my own problems, add other people's on top of that and it can become unbearable. So I've found that to function in a healthy way I mostly need to say a prayer for the person in need and then do my best to forget about it so I can go on living my life. (Of course for a worrying, brooding type of person like me this is difficult in itself.) That sounds calous and selfish doesn't it? Sometimes it doesn't seem right to go on living your own good life when others you know or maybe even don't know have pretty terrible lives. Maybe it's not though, what else are you going to do? Now, if you excuse me I'm going to go listen to Christmas music and drown the world's sorrows in some hot chocolate.