The Value of Life (and my attempt to not get too philosophical)

Quick update: I managed to get sand in my shoes several times since the last post.

Every day, I think of more and more things I could write about, share my impressions of, express an opinion on... I have assembled a small collection of potential "stories". Well, today I decided to actually put one on paper (or should I say cyberspace?). I am reminded of what I am about to write every time I hear police sirens. Because police sirens in downtown DC frequently equal the procession escorting President Bush to his next destination. Several motorcycles, followed by several tainted-window SUVs, followed by several luxury limo-type cars (also with tainted windows), again followed by SUVs and motorcycles. (I am sure it is actually a perfectly symmetrical arrangement, all flashing in red and blue.) And it makes me wonder--here is this one man, protected by dozens of people and guns, while in other parts of the world tens (sometimes hundreds) of people are massacred every day... but hardly anyone pays attention, let alone does anything to protect or save these people. So are we in reality assigning different values to the lives of different individuals? And how can we be right in doing that when it just seems plain wrong?