why do we watch?

To this day, whenever images of 911 appear on the screen, I look away. I havent seen any of the post-911 movies, and won't. When the Bengals played in New York the following September, I wanted to go the site of the Towers, just to honor the dead. I couldnt bring myself to do it. The last thing I watched about that day was the service at the National Cathedral in Washington, the morning after. I don't think I've cried since.

Which prompts the question: Why do we watch?

The lunatic who murdered 32 students sent, among other things, a videotape to NBC. Anyone who wanted to see the ravings of a madchild has seen them by now. I will never watch it. Did you? Were you spellbound? We handle tragedy and grief in our own ways. Maybe watching it helps you understand it. More likely, a morbid curiosity holds you. It's like rubbernecking at a wreck on the highway, writ large.

I can't do it. Too sad. Just like 911.