This is something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. Since I was old enough to talk, I’ve wanted to be a reporter. It’s all I know. But recently, I’ve begun to worry that I can’t handle all that a reporter’s life entails. I have a heavy heart…and I think I want to keep it. Emotion is what sets us apart from animals. When we lose it, we also lose a bit of our humanity.

Last week I was able to spend the day with a reporter, Kirby Adams, who put me at ease about these feelings because, despite decades as a reporter, she has them too. The day I was with her, she was assigned to cover a fatal stabbing and a shooting -- two separate events. This isn’t uncommon. Violence happens every day and news stations report on it every day. It's our responsibility. We went to the scene of a shooting from the day before. The sidewalk was still bloodstained. I stepped right over it. We also attended a remembrance vigil for a woman who was stabbed to death the week before. A couple hundred mourners were present. It was all really hard on me emotionally, though I wouldn’t have dare said it. When we got back to the newsroom and Kirby popped the tape in to begin writing the story, I could tell it bothered her too because she was really concerned with doing a nice story for the families of the victims. So I shared my own feelings. I told her it was really difficult for me to see all that blood from the shooting and all the heart-broken people at the vigil, and that I wasn't ready to become desensitized to those situations. She reassured me that keeping emotion is important; that I had to be careful not to let the things I would see every day take hold of me. She told me not to lose my soul.

That was pretty profound advice. I have a good soul, and I want to guard it with my life. I’ve learned that emotional reporters can see parts of a story that others would completely overlook. When a story pulls on my heart-strings, it’s very likely that it has completely broken the heart of someone closer to it. That means something. If we as reporters can empathize with those affected by a tragedy, we can do more than just inform the community…we can connect the community. Not every viewer is affected by a shooting, but we are all affected and therefore united by the basic human instinct of compassion. That’s the power of mass communication. And that’s really awesome.