THE STORY SO FAR. "CNN's medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta (a neurosurgeon) has been with a medical unit that does not have a neurosurgeon. So when an Iraqi child who needed brain surgery came in, they asked CNN's doctor for help. He did. And now, no one can stop talking about it. Am I wrong? I think it is great he tried to save the boy (who later died), but isn't that his job?... I'm pretty sure the only reason this is a big deal is because CNN is making it so, for understandable reasons..." -- Kathryn Jean Lopez.

That's an understandable, though seemingly ungenerous, POV. It's similar to what I've been saying about Giuliani and September 11. People get mad when I say it, though.

The camera's eye puts everything in a new perspective, and now and again even those who have been following the Story So Far with popcorn and pennant in hand will notice that this Story is, to a large extent, guided by Storytellers. There's real heroism afoot every day, of course. You don't need a camera to see it.

But we're used to getting our heartwarming stories from cable. When you have an interest in how others see the world (since, to a greater or lesser extent, it can effect decisions that have an impact on your own life), sometimes you'll become aware that the capital-S story is out of sync with the one you, like each of us, constantly construct for yourself.

Maybe that's the time to turn off the TV for a while.