When Shocking Stops Being Shocking

​This morning, I read that our military blew up a boat in the eastern Pacific ocean that was accused of engaging in narco-trafficking operations. Three men were killed. Their deaths bring the death toll from these operations to at least 202; there have been more than 60 such boat strikes this year.

What I found a bit surprising is this story was buried deep in today's news. These strikes are no longer big headline news. They are just the way it is. They are reported like the final scores of the previous days major league baseball games.

In the early days of these strikes, there was some measure of outrage. Mainly because these strikes are shrouded in secrecy - congress and the American people have never been provided evidence these boats are even carrying drugs.

Most legal experts say these strikes are illegal.

But today, the outrage is gone, or at least greatly quieted. We've simply come to trust these strikes are necessary, or, I guess, we've come to accept the powers that be are going to blow up the boats they think need blown up no matter what anyone else thinks, including legal experts.

It's a scary path these sorts of things take:

Something shocking becomes familiar.

Something familiar becomes normal.

Something normal becomes invisible.

The reality is human beings normalize almost everything. The first day living beside railroad tracks disturbs sleep. Two years later the noise goes unnoticed. The longer we are exposed to something the more likely it is we'll stop noticing it.

Which in the case of railroad track noise, that's a good thing.

But when it comes to violence, division, loneliness, political dysfunction, human suffering.... some things aren't so great to normalize and adapt to.

Some things don't serve us well by going from headlines to paragraphs buried 18 pages deep in the day's news. And buried not because it doesn't matter anymore, but because it's simply no longer news.

And this isn't just about boat strikes. I find myself wondering this morning how many things I've mistaken in my own life for normal simply because they've been present for so long.

Family dynamics.

Childhood experiences.

Silence in relationships.

Loneliness.

Many people don't realize they're hurting because they've lived with the hurt for so long that it feels normal.

Maybe that's the big question. The question to ask of ourselves and of the world. Does something that once felt extraordinary suddenly feel ordinary because I've come to make sense of it - gained wisdom - or is it because I've simply lost my ability to notice it?

I was shocked the first time I heard that our United States military blew up a small boat in the ocean because it was accused of trafficking drugs ( and thereby skipping the need for any sort of warrants and arrests and trials legally mandated for suspected drug dealers here at home who are NOT out in the middle of the ocean).

But today, that these strikes continues no longer shocks me. I guess I find it more shocking that this is no longer shocking. It's gone on so long now that it just feels like a normal way the United States deals with suspected drug traffickers.

Sometimes normalcy is good.

But quite often, it is not.