Who's Afraid of the Big Bad News?

Friends, we are living in scary times. I admittedly don't keep up with foreign news and politics like I should, but this week, there are problems too big and scary to ignore:

Tensions between North and South Korea are heating up as investigations continue into the sinking of a South Korean ship in March. South Korea says that North Korea is responsible, and is trying to round up allies for taking action against the North. This isn't getting much play in the news now, but any time a nuclear power is agitated, I get worried.

Meanwhile, what IS getting tons of coverage from all angles is the latest in the Israel-Palestine conflict. In a nutshell: Israel has Gaza under blockade, meaning goods can't make it in. Earlier this week, a group of international pro-Palestine organizations and individuals boarded a ship along with some humanitarian aid to challenge the blockade. Israel fired on the ship, several activists died, and now there are verbal missiles being launched in all directions. Pro-Israel opinion holds that the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" aka the aid ship was deliberately planned to provoke Israel. Pro-Palestine writers say that even if that WAS the main idea, Israel still shouldn't fire on an aid ship and Gaza is suffering. For more, see this, the best article I've read that's short and clear.

And of course, the US has tons of problems stateside. Literally on our own shores, the BP oil spill is almost too revolting to talk about. Reports today say that oil and tar are now reaching Dauphin Island, Alabama, where I played as a kid when visiting relatives. Meanwhile, the Feds are launching a criminal investigation of BP. Hopefully this will shed light on the failures of such a lobbyist-driven, anti-regulation industry.

This past weekend, I got the opportunity to attend a workshop on courageous leadership and diversity. The facilitators brought up the idea that we are living in one of the most crucial times in human history, one of the times that human actions will have the largest ramifications, good or bad. Thus, it's vital that we produce the courageous leadership that will tip the scales toward the good, meaning good for all of humanity. I believe this, but it's daunting to think about. When faced with such big problems, where do we start? I know that moving past the fear is key, and so is talking about this stuff. What next?