Yes, Pakistan is a Long Way from the US...

and yes, there have been many natural disasters recently. But Lores Rizkalla reminds that we all share this planet and that every human life is important. She writes on her blog:

the death toll in the Pakistan quake has now reached 79,000!

That's 26 times the number of Americans we lost on September 11. Where is the public cry for help and relief in our nation. I was so proud of the way we responded to the victims of hurricane Katrina.

Thankfully, there are organizations, like Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse, without an ethnocentric bone in their organizational body, just as committed to helping the victims of this terrible quake as they were those who survived Katrina.

I challenge you, even as we prepare for yet another massive storm to hit the shores of our great nation, to take a moment to figure out what your role is to support the victims in the wake of the disaster in Pakistan.

Whether your role is to pray or to contribute financially, do it. God knows, we would want the same done for us.

There's a lot of talk about compassion fatigue these days. All these tragedies are overwhelming, to be sure. But, as Lores points out, if you or I were the victims of tragedy, we would hope and pray that God was keeping our fellow human beings from developing cases of compassion fatigue.

Lores is right that our capacity to express compassion may be the simple ability to say a prayer each day. We can ask God to help people rebuild their lives, to bless the efforts of relief organizations, to speed aid to those who need it, and to use each tragedy as a conduit by which the message of His love and redemption through Jesus Christ can be heard, seen, and felt. Every prayer offered in Jesus' Name is an invitation to God come to invade the world with His love, grace, and goodness.

If we can do other things out of compassion for others, that's great, too. Lores mentions making donations to Samaritan's Purse, which does great work. I would also mention Lutheran World Relief and Catholic Relief Services.

UPDATE: John Schroeder at Blogotional also has important things on militating against compassion fatigue.