late night ramblings

How do you balance being informed and not being overwhelmed?
It is something I have been reminded about a lot here recently in the wake of yet another horrible heart wrenching disaster.
I have a very hard time balancing things like this, I used to be able to handle the weight of the world... filtering through, letting the things that needed to stick, stick. And letting the others go. But as I have gotten older, in the last two years of so... I have really had to distance myself from the more horrible things that go on around us.

I can't watch the news, or even really read about the horrors of life, whether the natural course of some (such as weather and storms) or the twisted sickness of others (murder, rape, slavery) I can very easily fall back into a apathetic state, I remember being in that place about two years ago... I didn't see the point, there is so much pain and suffering. What could I do that would make any difference?

So I choose to step back, I stopped keeping up with the things going on around me. I only knew of major issues because my Mom or a co-worker would mention it. I choose to live almost naively, trying to only see the good in the world.
But I don't necessarily know that stepping away and being unaware is the correct thing to do. We live in a time where information is at our fingertips, news is always in front of us. So how do we balance this complex situation?

I sat and watched videos like most of the world, seeing Japan broken and flooded... all I could do was cry, I just want to jump in and protect and save everything. I couldn't stop watching, my heart breaks for the pain and wreckage that is going on.

At some point I have to shut off the television and return to "real" life.
I guess I am just feeling useless, and kind of selfish for trying to continue with life when so many are in pain.

I am not looking for answers, I don't know that they exist... just wrestling with it all in my head.