The world's compassion is notoriously quirky. Just consider where it has been directed over the past couple of months, a period as replete with tragedy and disaster as any in recent memory. Another lethal tsunami struck Indonesia. The sectarian slaughter in Iraq worsened, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki conceding last week that some 100 innocent Iraqis are now being killed daily. War hovered in the Horn of Africa and exploded in the Middle East, producing heart-rending images of dead, injured and displaced civilians, particularly in Lebanon. Yet while all this misery was unfolding, many people, in many countries, appeared more concerned about the fate of a horse.
Or so it appeared to some. Charges of unseemly sentiment flew. But really, it's time for the critics to calm down -- and let people's feelings flow where they will.
The steed in question is not just any old horse, of course, but the fabulous American colt Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner that famously shattered his hind leg running in the Preakness Stakes 10 weeks ago. Since then, the ups and downs of Barbaro's condition -- he has been stabilized, but his survival remains a long shot -- have been the subject of daily bulletins from his surgeons in Pennsylvania and frequent reports in newspapers worldwide, including this one.