How can something like this take place? It is just insane. I read the article and thought, "There is seriously something wrong with those people." To walk past a devastatingly injured toddler without so much as batting an eyelid.
Were they afraid to get involved? Did they just assume someone else had taken note of the situation and rung for an ambulance or alerted the child's parents? I mean seriously. Where is the rationale behind that degree of, shall we call it, apathy?
On another note, did her brother witness the incident? Did her mother wonder where she had gone? At least there are people providing support for the family now.
On another note, did her brother witness the incident? Did her mother wonder where she had gone? At least there are people providing support for the family now.
Maybe the van and truck drivers were too scared in the moment to stop, for fear of being prosecuted. What were the shopkeepers thinking, though, when they ignored the lady (bless the kindly street cleaner) who did try to help?
There's a passage in the Bible that talks about Satan placing a shroud over people's eyes so they cannot see the truth and respond to it, which could very well be the case here.
Sin. It's wrapped up in deception isn't it? Wonderful, appealing deception.
Sin. It's wrapped up in deception isn't it? Wonderful, appealing deception.
Sometimes it's subtle so we don't really notice. Other times it completely blind sides us and we are left clueless about even being hit. Both are equally dangerous but I think the eventuality of having our conscience discreetly numbed over time can prove far more lethal because, by then, we are so convinced that what is utterly wrong is so alluringly right.
The truth is that little girl was perfectly helpless, being both powerless to do anything and denied assistance. But what was the lie clouding the perspective of the passers-by? If we can answer that, will it tell us why society has fallen to this state? Do we already know why?
The erosion of values springs to mind. Moral and ethical values gone down the drain. The pertinence of nurturing the fundamental unit of society, the family, overlooked. The sense of community; the importance of a culture of honour, disregarded. And why? Because we are by nature bent on self preservation? Because we know no better when that is all we've been taught, either through observation or experience?
But something can be done to change this. On the one hand there is cruelty but on the other hope still exists because this tragedy did spark outrage, and outrage spurs action, and action begets change.
I have asked myself on a number of occasions what I would do if the unexpected scream from the road atop the grassy slope beside my bedroom window turned out to be one of real angst, and not the squeal of some youngster being playfully chased. If the screamer was in fact being genuinely attacked and desperately hoping for a rescuer.
Would I quietly rationalise what I had heard? Would I attempt to still my trembling heart with chants that everything is actually ok and the trouble is only in my imagination, so I ought to just hit the 'stop' button on my over-analytical brain procession and roll over and pull the blanket tight and go to sleep?
If I do, I am no different to a self centred, negligent passer by. Could I live with myself knowing I didn't make the humane choice to help simply because I cared more about my comfort than someone else's life? And what if, to live with myself, I found a way to drown the inner voice until nothing moved me anymore?
I could then just walk past a bleeding toddler without flinching, and that is a more frightening thought than the tiny possibility of getting hurt if I were to help. Besides, wisdom would suggest calling on someone (or a group of someones) who would and could respond to make everything ok.
Right now, I just pray that God will peel off the scales that blur our vision so we can truly see right from wrong, and that we will have the guts and the decency to pursue the former. My prayers are also with the little girl, her family and the community they live in.
The erosion of values springs to mind. Moral and ethical values gone down the drain. The pertinence of nurturing the fundamental unit of society, the family, overlooked. The sense of community; the importance of a culture of honour, disregarded. And why? Because we are by nature bent on self preservation? Because we know no better when that is all we've been taught, either through observation or experience?
But something can be done to change this. On the one hand there is cruelty but on the other hope still exists because this tragedy did spark outrage, and outrage spurs action, and action begets change.
I have asked myself on a number of occasions what I would do if the unexpected scream from the road atop the grassy slope beside my bedroom window turned out to be one of real angst, and not the squeal of some youngster being playfully chased. If the screamer was in fact being genuinely attacked and desperately hoping for a rescuer.
Would I quietly rationalise what I had heard? Would I attempt to still my trembling heart with chants that everything is actually ok and the trouble is only in my imagination, so I ought to just hit the 'stop' button on my over-analytical brain procession and roll over and pull the blanket tight and go to sleep?
If I do, I am no different to a self centred, negligent passer by. Could I live with myself knowing I didn't make the humane choice to help simply because I cared more about my comfort than someone else's life? And what if, to live with myself, I found a way to drown the inner voice until nothing moved me anymore?
I could then just walk past a bleeding toddler without flinching, and that is a more frightening thought than the tiny possibility of getting hurt if I were to help. Besides, wisdom would suggest calling on someone (or a group of someones) who would and could respond to make everything ok.
Right now, I just pray that God will peel off the scales that blur our vision so we can truly see right from wrong, and that we will have the guts and the decency to pursue the former. My prayers are also with the little girl, her family and the community they live in.
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