I like to consider myself a fairly informed individual.  Every day I check out the top stories that appear on Google News.  I try to get a variety of perspectives on any single issue.  Lately however, I have been suffering what can only be termed as information overload.

It really is amazing to think that the internet as we know it today only came into being about fifteen years ago.  It is an understatement to say that the internet, via the world wide web, overnight completely changed the world.  In an instant, an almost unlimited amount of information can be accessed.  It is this unparelled access of information that has been giving me so much angst lately.

One of the drawbacks of having access to all of this information is that it's very difficult to blind yourself to the realities of the world today.  In all probability, the world probably isn't that much different than it was fifty years ago.  I'd even be willing to believe that the world is much better today than it was fifty years ago.  The problem however is that the terrible things that ARE happening in the world today, are much more visible than they were fifty years ago.

I wish I had an answer to how I am supposed to sift through all of this information to find the knowledge that I so desperately crave.  It seems that in order to fully understand any single issue, an immense amount of time and effort must be spent in order to seperate the lies from the truth.  With so many issues to make decisions about, what am I supposed to do? 

I think this is the question that bothers me the most.  I know that I have a responsibility to stay informed, but it is just so hard to determine what choices I should make.