In the digital era, difficult images and news inundate every conceivable channel of distribution. They can undermine any sense of security and cut through the rituals of daily life. The relationship, or distancing, between the viewer (secondary witness) and the event is most generally mediated by the illuminated monitor, which in an abstract sense also serves as a primary witness. Implications of how we, as secondary witnesses, see, comprehend, consider, and are affected by these difficult images, become a critical component of the way in which we perceive our role and ourselves in relationship to others in a seemingly destabilized society.