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Are we so complacent?

writerspirit posted on Jan 16, 2007 | views: 225 | Tags: Complacence, failing ourselves, love thy neighbour, neighbors, the pack
I was watching Nancy Grace on CNN and she was talking about the two Missouri boys who were rescued last week. I was stunned when they actually found "Ben," the most recent abductee, alive. Never mind the fact that they found "Shaun," who had been abducted 4 years earlier. Then I got to thinking; why is it so stunning, so rare, to have such a successful outcome? Why is it that a young child can be abducted and living such a short distance from home and not be found for four years?!
 
I don't place the blame solely on law enforcement but also on the community at large.
Have we, as a society, become so complacent that we can not see what is right in front of us?
 
I don't want to debate the details of the case I'm simply making an observation about our current state of humanity. We seem to be so consumed by the perceived threat of terrorism, invasion by illegal aliens, and war over seas, that we've forgotten to look in our own backyards. We continually fail to look out for one another, to provide a safe community for each other. What ever happened to "love thy neighbour?"
 
Do any of us really know our neighbours any more? Would you notice if your neighbours kids didn't go to school with all the other kids?
 
Why do we NOT care what goes on around us?
 
Just wondering...
 
Writerspirit


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Comments

  • polarheart said on Jan 17, 2007....
    WriterS, you are completely right and I think it is just the way the world is becoming.  Life is just so different to when we were kids.  We and I actually mean "I" have become afraid to get involved for fear of causing trouble with the neighbours. Because, I have it in my head that if I stick my nose into their affairs, there is a pretty good chance that they will make my/our life hell.
     
    You see, we stay on top of and in between 3 sets of neighbours and it is quite important to me that we all respect each others privacy, by way of keeping noise down and not doing stuff to irk each other.  Our neighbours are not our buddies and I dont want them knowing our business.  And I almost feel that the less I know about them the less I need feel any responsibility to them.
     
    I know that my attitude is wrong, so now you know what a baddy I really am.
     
    Polarheart
     
  • silverwhisper said on Jan 17, 2007....
    i don't blame the cops at all. i blame the neighbors alone, fully.

    ed
  • polarheart said on Jan 17, 2007....
    Thanks, Silver, I feel so much better now (joke)!
  • silverwhisper said on Jan 17, 2007....
    there've been similar stories in the past. i remember one news story from perhaps a decade ago. a woman was raped in an alleyway in new york city. there were witnesses. not a single one of them did anything to stop it.

    all i can think is what if that were a friend, a family member? and why didn't that thought roll through any of the minds of the witnesses?

    it disgusts me.

    ed
  • writerspirit said on Jan 17, 2007....
    Hey Polar,
    I don't fault you for the way you feel but if you noticed something odd would you report it (knowing that it may help police find an abducted child)?
     
    Ed,
    I'm with you on this one. How could anyone live with themselves knowing they could have saved someone from a brutal attack or worse! Does it not enter their minds that it could be them in that situation if not for the hands of fate? I have truly lost the faith I used to have in human beings to do the right thing.
     
    It is so sad...
     
    Writespirit
  • silverwhisper said on Jan 17, 2007....
    don't lose hope, writerspirit: even though our inhumanity to one another is common, our plain decency can shine at times, too. don't get too discouraged.

    ed
  • mobil said on Jan 17, 2007....
    I think it's more about people being too busy winterspirt. Too busy for the
    neighbors and too busy for ourselves.
     
    Life has been becoming less natural, I think it began with the industrial
    revolution and is progressively getting worse.
     
    Many go through life now with the pack mentality, safety in numbers, in the
    pack. Problem is the pack no longer cares, or looks out for it's members.
     
    It's not good and I don't see it getting better anytime soon.
     
    how's the weather up there...............
  • writerspirit said on Jan 17, 2007....

    Thanks for the encouragement Ed; it gets harder and harder not to be cynical.

    Mobil, I think you hit it on the head. Everyone's so busy running to and from work that real life has little meaning anymore. People fear one another more than they care for them.

    I guess it's up to us, as individuals, to make a difference.

    Weather is great, by the way! Tomorrow it's supposed to be +5 and sunny. H ow are things down below?

    Writerspirit

  • polarheart said on Jan 18, 2007....
    WriterS, thanks for what you said.  And you are right that if I saw something that looked illegal or dangerous I would most certainly call the cops.  I wanted to come back after my first entry and say that, but then I thought it would just look as if I was trying to defend myself and I'm not.  Life is just more complicated here in the UK than when I lived in SA.  There people tended to be far more on the look out for each other, but that's just my own experience, i cannot generalise it for the entire UK.  I know in small villages the people really do tend to stand together.
     
    Polarheart
     

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