The tragic shooting in Tucson last weekend has galvanized the nation and dominated the news cycles. When these things happen, we tend to focus on the randomness of them, and the individual human tragedies. The news channels bring out the personal stories of the victims, and Americans as a whole feel connected to them and feel a real sense of loss for a person they've never met nor even heard of until the story broke.

This happens on a regular basis. A young white upper middle class woman goes missing on a Caribbean island, and before you know it, the entire country is holding its collective breath, waiting for the latest update. It's ratings gold for the news channels. Meanwhile, plenty of not-so-white children and adults go missing every day, and there's nary a peep. Their tragic stories go untold, slipping into the all-consuming void of anonymity.

In contrast, a massive tragedy that affects thousands and kills numerous people fails to capture our imagination. Why? Because there's no personal connection created, there's no face and story being flashed across the hourly updates. We feel a moment of heart-wrenching sadness, then a private guilty moment of relief that it is not us, and then we move on.

While America was transfixed by the shootings in Tucson, a tragedy on a much larger scale was unfolding on the other side of the planet. Although the description may be approaching the status of hackneyed cliché, the flooding in Australia can only be described as "Biblical". The land mass of that continent/country that is underwater is the same as all of Germany and France combined. That's almost 400,000 square miles. That's the same as 1 1/2 Texases. The Katrina flooding of New Orleans was a national tragedy. Imagine if it was Texas, ALL of Louisiana and ALL of Mississippi...

The city of Brisbane is trying to dig itself out of the mud and debris that is the end result of any flood. Cities in New South Wales and Victoria states are being evacuated. The impact on lives and homes is enormous, and the country itself - besides having to bear the burden of cleanup and rebuilding - is also experiencing economic loss, such as the loss of revenue from coal. The photographs (also here via interactive map) and video are stunning.

One might argue that the Tucson shooting eclipsed all other news stories, and there may be some truth to that. However, the lack of a compelling personal story also results in a lack of resonance. That may change, however. One can't help but be touched by the story of 13 year old Jordan Rice who insisted rescuers leave him and take his 10 year old brother first. The 10 year old was saved; Jordan and his mother were swept away by floodwaters before rescuers could return for them. It's a poignant story of selflessness and bravery so rare in the world, especially for a 13 year old boy. One can only hope this story will open America's eyes to the enormity of the tragedy in Australia. 30 people are confirmed dead, 40 more are believed to be dead, and 60 are missing.

There will likely be no personal stories coming from Sri Lanka where 1 million people are homeless due to flooding (at least 23 dead). Yes, they have a regular monsoon season, but the rains are heavier than usual. Rainfall described as "the heaviest in 48 years" has created a mudslide in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil burying part of a favela (slum). 150 people are confirmed dead, with another 200 still buried and assumed dead. Was that on the nightly news? Perhaps if there had been a little white girl tourist there, but no - it was just poor brown people. There's no personal narrative there, no sense of loss to middle America.

Unfortunately, the extreme weather in Australia, Sri Lanka, and Brazil is becoming more commonplace. The DC area had record snowfalls last year, "hot" Atlanta is buried under snow and ice... This was predicted by climate scientists who said that global warming would result in extreme weather as more moisture ends up in our atmosphere, and melting polar ice disrupts normal ocean currents. How hot was it last year? According to NOAA, it was tied for the hottest year on record. The other hottest year was 2005; it seems the cumulative effect of all that is starting to manifest itself.

So while Brazil digs itself out from under the mud, and Atlanta digs itself out from under the ice, and Australia digs itself out from under the debris from massive floods, they all look to the sky knowing that cyclones and snow are still in the forecast. How many personal stories do we need before we take this seriously?