I
trust your holiday
was joyful. Now that
you’ve had your fill
of pie and cakes and
have drifted off
into a sugar high
state of mind, I’m
going to bring you
back into the world
of reality.
No, I’m not going to
talk about the
upcoming holiday
season and all of
the pretty lights
and parties that
occur this time of
the year. I’m not
going to talk about
some wonderful
Christmas cruise or
vacation someone is
taking.
What I’m going to
talk about is
simple.
What happened to
America?
Last week, there was
a story making its
way around
concerning a young
nineteen year old
boy who hooked
himself up to the
internet and then
committed suicide
while people
watched. This young
boy posted a note
about what he was
going to do along
with a link to his
website and camera.
He was using a blog
site from some body
building forum. The
young man was
discovered by the
police some twelve
hours after he had
died. What disturbs
me is that almost no
one attempted to get
him any help or see
if he could be
stopped. Indeed most
of the comments to
the blog were taunts
and messages
‘daring’ him to go
through with his
plan.
How sick is this?
The police reported
that only one person
actually called them
to report the
incident even though
the young man had
posted his name and
address on line. I
found this hard to
believe and went
back and read some
of the comments.
They turned my
stomach. Several of
the writers said
that they could
hardly be blamed for
encouraging the man
to kill himself as
it was comparable to
being on the street
and watching someone
jump from a
building.
“All you’re doing is
looking…what’s the
harm in that” one
person wrote. “He
probably would not
have stopped
anyway…” another
said. “I thought it
was a joke” said
someone else. “Even
if I had called, he
would have just done
it next week anyway,
so why bother?” said
one lady from
California.
To all of these I
have one question..
what if it was your
son or daughter? How
would you like to
live in a society
who sees some harm
being done or about
to be done and turns
a blind eye to it?
Is that what we have
become? Are we that
cold and indifferent
that the safety and
well being of our
fellow man is no
longer our concern?
Recall some years
ago, when a young
woman was assaulted
in New York City
while a bunch of
people looked on and
nothing was done to
try and help her. I
recall that that
this incident made
the news for some
period of time. As I
recall a number of
studies came out on
this matter and the
attitudes of society
were taken to task
as a result. The
question was then as
it is now, how have
we gone wrong in
this country?
Is this the
pervasive attitude
across America or
just in some areas?
Do people in smaller
towns and villages
get more involved
with their neighbors
and people who need
help and assistance
than those living in
larger cities? I
certainly hope so. I
want to believe it’s
so.
In a civilized
society the strong
must look after the
weak. I have no idea
what was going on in
that young man’s
mind to make him
want to die. I do
know that there are
few problems at
nineteen years of
age that cannot be
solved by just
sitting down and
thinking them
through with some
mature persons with
some experience.
Nothing is ever as
bad as it seems. No
one should ever take
someone’s suicide
statement and
dismiss it out of
hand as being
frivolous or joking.
You don’t joke about
bombs and guns on
airplanes and you
should not joke
about suicide, it
isn’t funny.
Oh, and one more
thing…the police
made a statement
that had he (the
kid) lived he
‘could’ have faced
prosecution for
having attempted
suicide. There’s a
sense of compassion
for you if I’ve ever
seen one. Succeed
and you’re dead,
fail and you might
go to jail. We seem
to have our values
completely out of
whack here.
My heart goes out to
this kid’s parents
and hope they know
that most of us
aren’t like those
who wrote on their
son’s blog.
Or are we?
