Where has our compassion gone?

I had written previously about misplaced priorities. Today, however, I have an even bigger concern - that of human compassion and decency. What inspired this was a man's suicide and the callous and heartless reactions to it that have been posted to a newspaper message board.

A little background is in order to fully understand this. In the town where I currently live and teach, we have had a bit of a drug scandal. Seems that a few of the custodians at the local high school were bilking the school prescription benefit plan by passing off illegal prescriptions for drugs such as Oxycontin. Seems that the custodians were obtaining hundreds of illegal pills and ultimately selling them on the street. Value - who knows, but an awful lot.

The employees were identified by police, and ultimately, a few of them were arrested. While the investigation has been continuing, one of the janitors, who was incidentally a former firefighter in town as well, hung himself. Who knows why. Maybe it was the pressure of this investigation. Maybe it was that he had failed at still another job. Maybe it was the thought of disappointing his family, including a young daughter. Maybe it was his drug problem.

Truth be told, we won't ever know because he hung himself and he didn't leave a note. Whether or he was guilty of anything, however, one must be pretty damned desparate to go ahead and hang yourself. And whether or not you are sympathetic to his plight, you have to admit that this is a tragedy - especially leaving a little girl all alone in the world.

The news breaks and, as has become the custom in the 21st century, "posters" who probably wouldn't have the guts to sign their own names to anything, let alone an internet post, start in with the most cruel, vile comments I have ever seen on a website. Comments that ranged from insults aimed at the deceased to comments about his family. Strong words and little thought.

And that is what has ticked me off. The internet, the ultimate free-speech tool, has turned us into a bunch of whiners, complainers and insult artists who can now hide behind the anonymity of a screen name and simply badmouth whomever and whatever we wish. With no consequences to speak of and with absolutely no care as to who sees the post or how many people they may be insulting.

What has happened to our society? Where is the compassion? The earth rocks and we immediately spring into action, sending millions of dollars to Haiti and offering all the assistance we can muster to help those poor helpless people and this demonstrates just how good people can be. And, almost simultaneously, a man takes his own life, shaming his family and leaving his daughter an orphan and rather than having even one sympathetic word, these jokers immediately start piling on with insults and derogatory comments. And we get to see just how bad people can be.

Why? Where have we gone wrong - and I say "we" intentionally. Because even if we don't participate in the action, somehow we must be condoning it, either by letting the posts go unchallenged or by subscribing to the paper that allows such crap, or by just turning a deaf ear.

I genuinely fear for what we are becoming. And I keep asking myself "why?"