The Times of India is reporting the unbearable news that the death toll in the Pakistan earthquake has reached 81,000 and is expected to climb as high as 100,000. I want to think it's some sort of mathematical or sampling error. But I don't think it is.

I've watched some of the (relatively) feel-good coverage on CNN and PBS and read some in the local papers (emphasizing rescues, charity efforts and the like), but all of that almost fades into insignificance in the face of the waste, tragedy and loss of an event like this. The mind simply goes numb at a figure like 81,000 dead--worse yet as it comes in the wake of the tsunami, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, flooding in New England, fears about avian flu, and a generally menacing environment of war and terrorism. I try, mentally, to reach for a text or a thought to put it all in context, but nothing comes. So I'll leave it at that.

P.S. Having written all that, let me emphasize: don't succumb to despair until you've contributed something to the relief effort!

P.P.S: Well, I may have been at a loss for words, but the editors of The Daily Times (Lahore) certainly weren't. Worth thinking about.