Are more bad things happening or am I becoming more aware of the bad things?

As yet another earthquake takes place off of Japans coast, and a two meter tsunami rushes towards the same shore that was hit a month ago, I have to ask myself if the world is coming to an end or was I just living in a bubble previous to the last 5 or so years?

What is with the news these days? There is a looming government shutdown, a nuclear crisis in Japan, recent earthquakes that have hit Chili and wrecked Haiti, government unrest in the Middle East, two wars on terror --or something, birds flying into airplanes, and 7 people were shot or stabbed in DC last night. Last night!

Obviously bad things happened when I was growing up and when I was in college, and I can't decide if I appreciate being kept in the dark or just being ignorant to the rest of the world's happenings, or if I feel like I should have been made more aware. Or maybe I was made aware but feigned ignorance. Or maybe personal hardships like divorce, cancer and teen angst overshadowed the rest of the world's issues. It's hard to say.

I do know those things though: This was spotted in DC this week  (on DCist)

And this was spotted in my inbox this morning: