Inhuman Indifference

"Indifference is not an emotion for human beings,"

"To turn the other way or to mind your own business can sometimes be more devastating than the events that occur."

- Crecenzio Cardinal Seppe, Archbishop of Naples (quoted above and pictured below)

Shocking story out of Italy, once heart of Christendom.

Shocking Indifference to Roma (Gypsy) Drowning

TORREGAVETA, Italy (July 21) - Italian newspapers, an archbishop and civil liberties campaigners expressed shock and revulsion on Monday after photographs were published of sunbathers apparently enjoying a day at the beach just meters from where the bodies of two drowned Roma (gypsy) girls were laid out on the sand.

See the full story at:

http://news.aol.com/article/shocking-indifference-to-roma-drowning/94412?icid=100214839x1206338144x1200292688

The two girls were reportedly named Violetta and Cristina, aged 12 and 13.

_________________

V. Eternal rest grant unto Violetta and Cristina, O Lord.
R. And may perpetual light shine upon them.
V. May the souls of the faithfully departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
R. Amen.

Comments

[Sawyer]

I probably would have continued enjoying the beach too. Look: people die tragically every day, and you can't stop your life on account of it. The girls drowned, and that's a reason to say a prayer for their souls; but then you move on and enjoy your day. The girls were already dead. There's nothing anyone could have done for them to change that fact. The guy on the cell phone might not have even realized he was walking by dead bodies. Maybe he figured they were napping. People can be callous; I just don't think this example is anything to get upset about. Like I said, I would have said a prayer for their souls and then enjoyed my day at the beach. What are people supposed to do? Kneel and say the rosary in a circle around the dead bodies? Come on.

[dymphna]

Europeans don't like Gypsies. It's vile but there it is.

[Anthony]

"What are people suppose to do? Kneel and say a rosary in a circle around the dead bodies? Come on"."

I can't believe I just read this. Are you sure your not the fellow in the picture laying around these bodies as though they didn't exist? Are you human??

Gypsies or not, their made in the image and likeness of God! Have we grown so cold and callous as to have no longer any feelings.

To feel that there is nothing wrong that "sunbathers" lay right next to two dead children with absolutely no remorse or sorrow has shown what a decrepit world this has become. Maybe above poster could care less if anyone said the rosary for his dying or dead body, but I'm sure these children would want that, and maybe even Heaven.?

[joanne]

Um, I "sunbathe" just like those two girls when I feel my skin frying. Are we sure the people on the beach knew these girls were dead? I would have assumed they were sleeping in the sun, protecting their skin, and I wouldn't have looked twice.

[Phyllis]

How cold and heartless can people be? Oh, please don't let two dead girls keep you from enjoying the sun...Dead girls should never cause you to maybe move away or interupt your holiday at all.... Wow. I'm so very disappointed in people sometimes.

[Phyllis]

"What are people suppose to do? Kneel and say a rosary in a circle around the dead bodies? Come on"."

Would that really have cut into your fun? These are two children of God...laying dead in front of you. And you can't interrupt your fun to say a kind word or even....gasp....a rosary? How about a short prayer for their souls?

[Jen]

I was going to say "what is Europe coming to", but I guess it should truly be "what has the World come to". The above remarks were not the comments I was expecting on a Christian site. What should the sunbathers have done? They should have stayed with the bodies until the authorities took over, then gotten up, said a prayer and left out of respect for the dead. How could you go on with your "fun day" at the beach after such an event. So, in the future,sons of Adam, that's the proper thing to do.

[Phyllis]

I live in the US. I can't imagine seeing two dead bodies (please, they were drug on shore in front of the couple that is sun bathing) and not offer something. When I hear a sad story, especially about a child, I light a candle and offer a prayer. To just continue my day at the beach would be like just driving bye....I breaks my heart that a life is not worth a prayer when it is lost. Especially, the life of two young girls. I fear for the world as I age...because what's next? If a dead child isn't worthy of notice, what is?

[Anthony]

Joanne;

If you laid on the beach covered as they, we'll all ignore you and "assume" you just didn't want to get fried. So, nevermind everyone, if you don't see the least amount of movement or breathing from her take place, OH WELL, JUST ENJOY THE SUN!

[joanne]

My error, Anthony. I reacted to the first picture before viewing the others. It is obvious from the subsequent photos and text that the sunbathers should have noticed.
My worry was that I knew I wouldn't assume a towel or blanket covered person to be dead, so indeed such a person could be ignored by me and others. We don't STUDY fellow sunbathers. I don't know if I would notice that they weren't breathing, frankly. It would be terrible to lie next to a person who needed attention, etc, and not realize it.
I just DID lie on the beach covered as they. I was not the only one who did. We can't always expose our skin, even with sunblock, these days.
Again, though, I spoke too soon.Sorry.But for this offense, according to your reasoning, Anthony, I deserve to die? Perhaps you also spoke too soon.

[Jimbo]

I might argue for the Euros sitting around the children not knowing what was going on if Euros didn't have a history of this kind of thing.

Remember the heat wave in France that killed some 10,000 elderly (another disliked class in Europe) while their children refused to end their summer vacations early to help their parents out? Sounds eerily familiar: vacationing Euros too freaking self-absorbed to think of the life and well being of others.

But I'm willing to give many of them the benefit of the doubt, I suppose. But how someone apparently pulled them from the water's edge, covered their bodies with a towel, and just left them there sounds pretty callous to me.

[Anthony]

Joanne, take it as you wish, but we all need to put ourselves in other people's situations sometimes, especially when it is beyond their control

"we can't always expose our skin even with sunblock these days."

Well, golly be, beats me why people even want to continue baking in the sun, I mean, with cancer and all, ya know what I mean?

[joanne]

Anthony,
It's called parenthood, to some degree. Children love the ocean. They love to swim. We would hate to deprive them of the ocean, especially in an "Ocean State". Adults also love to swim, some of them. But who has the beach endurance of kids?
Ah, in case you're thinking that a person covered in a towel or blanket couldn't properly watch even young teens, remember that hour after lunch during which they cannot go in the water, and are likely to be building castles, digging holes, or burying one another (alive!) in the sand. We politely refer to the parent/guardian's watch as "sunbathing", even at the point where said parent is doing everything possible to keep from getting skin cancer.
So, "sunbathing" covers lots of beach. I am blessed in that I greatly appreciate the beach, but I know parents who endure it for the sake of their children, alone.
In any case, we don't have to look to Europe for this sort of thing. Wasn't it in NY that a woman died in a hospital waiting room and no one noticed? And was it CT where a man was struck by a hit and run driver and lay there in the street for hours before anyone got him help? And right here in RI, outside my parish, my sister fainted on the sidewalk adjoining the church parking lot. Mass was in session. When she came to, Mass was over. No helpful individual was in sight, though the usual heavy traffic continued to flow by on the street.
Why is this happening? Have we backed so far from "Judge not..." and ingested so much of "Mind your own business." that we don't even SEE people in need anymore? That is scary to me not only because someone ELSE could be so ignorant, but because I may have already ignored countless needy people in my midst.