(A new weekly series, and hopefully fodder for discussion. Starting, now.)

"If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."

-- Mother Theresa

I came across this quote in an article by Meredith LaFrance in the Oregon Daily Emerald, the newspaper of the University of Oregon. In the piece, titled "The cost of human indifference," LaFrance posits that "endless statistics" of death tolls have left many "immune" or "numb" to the horror of the act of genocide. Rather than grappling with --- or glossing over --- staggering stastics, LaFrance writes, "we must think in terms of smaller groups of people and even individuals."

I agree. It's easy to get lost in statistics, and to loss site of exactly what it is that makes genocide and other forms of mass killing so horrific to begin with: The tragic loss of innocent life, the destruction of families and communities, and a multitude of pain and suffering that we cannot even begin to imagine.

But what do y'all think? Do overwhelming statistics alienate people from the anti-genocide cause? How do we maintain a (non-patronizing/condescending) focus on the individuals caught up in genocide? Talk amongst yourselves. (Or, preferably, in the comments section.)