It seems that lately, the world has been plagued by tragedy. Or at least the media has given more coverage to it.

Rescuers haven't been able to find a single live body in the tragic mudslide that wiped out a Filipino village this week. Last October, a devastating earthquake hit Pakistan's Kashmir region, killing nearly 100,000 people. At that time, United Nations officials declared that there were not enough heated tents in the world to keep these people warm through winter.

Before that, Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. gulf coast and flooded New Orleans and other coastal areas, and President Bush declared it the worst natural disaster ever to hit this country.

Just over a year ago, a tsunami hit southeastern Asia, killing hundreds of thousands of people in several countries including Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Kenya. It was easily the world's worst natural disaster. The list goes on and on.

We often see the images on television and feel sorry for those going through the situation -- but is feeling pity (or relief that it didn't happen to us) enough help?

Next time you are standing outside in the freezing cold waiting for the Blue Loop, imagine that instead of having to feel extreme cold for the 10 or 20 minutes it might take the bus to show up, you had to feel like that for three months. Wouldn't you want someone to throw you a blanket?

Most of the time, the problem with giving aid is not that we don't give enough -- it's that we don't give anything at all.

Why don't we give? We don't have to go out of our way to donate money to disaster relief, or some other cause. While we are waiting for our $350 J. Crew online purchase to be finalized, we could easily pay a quick visit to the Red Cross Web site and charge a few more dollars to our credit or debit card.

So why don't we? Is it that deep down, we really don't care? Is it that we feel little or none of our money will trickle down to the people who actually need it?

Or is it that these tragedies seem so surreal, so far removed from our reality that we cannot really identify with them?

If the bare human impact that massive tragedies have is too abstract for our brains to grasp, there are always plenty of opportunities to help out individuals in our community.

Last week brought the tragic and untimely death of fellow Penn Stater Xiaohui Xia. The Chinese Friendship Association collected money to help her family in China. E-mails have circulated about the tragedy and a Daily Collegian article gave information for those interested in donating money to her family for funeral and other expenses. If everyone at University Park gave just $1, that would be about $45,000, and this would significantly ease the financial burden of her family in this time of sorrow.

Yet how many read about her and ignored the plea? How many of us are graduate students like her? International students with families relying on us back home? Penn Staters? Surely we can identify with that.

Giving aid should not be a one-time thing. We often feel that because we helped out with one catastrophe we already did our part, and don't feel compelled to help out when the next one comes along.

This was another record-breaking year for Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon participants. It would greatly benefit our community if everyone who participated in that event kept their philanthropic spirit alive throughout the rest of the year and gave their time and energy to other less popular -- and less publicized -- causes.

When a massive tragedy occurs, the victims certainly need a quick response from us. But the need for help and the opportunity to do it is around us everyday. If you don't have the money to do so, plenty of volunteer organizations on campus and around town can use your time.