This is a topic dedicated to those who do or strive to feel compassion, lovingkindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity towards all myriad forms of suffering in the world. Suffering is omnipresent in the world, and unless you are an arahant or a Buddha, you are subject to suffering. There is so much suffering in the world, caused by aversion, greed and delusion. Without these things there would not be suffering. Whether we are Mahayana Buddhists or Theravada Buddhists, we should be chiefly concerned with the alleviation of suffering, via whatever methods are used in our respective traditions.
To you, I respect and appreciate your efforts to realise there is suffering in the world - the nature of it, its arising and its cessation, and to follow the Buddha's advice to not suffer because of it. I respect your determination to not wallow in samsara and be ignorantly blown around by grief and lamentation at the enormity of this suffering as such a response merely multiplies the problem.
Let us strive to cultivate these qualities towards all beings all the time. Let us not be selective in our objects of compassion, lovingkindness, sympathetic joy and equanimity. Let us develop the strength and understanding not to need external events, commemorative days, knowledge that someone is ill, lunar phases, watching the news, births, anniversaries and deaths of those famous or unknown, in order to prompt or trigger an appropriate positive mental response in accord with our master's teachings. Why should such things be required when the mind is the forerunner of all mental states? If you're relying on these things at present, then endeavour to build a solid refuge within based on the Dhamma... a refuge not subject to inputs from the various sense bases.
Metta,
Retro.
