benazir bhutto

i'm about to slip into perilously "serious talk" right now, but i've been having a hard time shaking the assassination of bhutto this past week. i'm terrified to see what happens to pakistan in the next weeks/months/years without her. she wasn't perfect and she wasn't even good (in the moral definition of the word), but does pakistan have a chance without her?
but it's not even fear of the country's future that gets me the most. it's the loss of a truly brave woman. her "extraordinary degree of physical courage" was remarkable, and not just "for a woman." it's the kind of exceptional courage that is rare and that made her so powerful. it's also a quality not enough women leaders possess, and now that she's dead because of it, who knows how long it will be until we see another.
i think what i'm feeling right now can most accurately be described as despair, but i'm sure it will pass as soon as next depressing news item happens. sigh.