Preparing the Daily means making decisions about story order that imply a kind of hierarchy. Some days that’s hard.

Today, editors talked about Lebanon, where airstrikes have leveled residential towers, threatening to widen a conflict. About fast-rising waters in the mountains of the U.S. South. About stories we can’t yet get to, such as flooding in Nepal.

It’s impossible to apportion empathy, or to rank where understanding is needed most. We do our best, over time. We strategize to get into position to report with care. There is no hierarchy of heart when all of humanity is close to home.