Turning Away

I read two interesting, and horrible, articles today.

The first one was about a group of Mt. Everest climbers who passed by a dying man on their quest to reach the summit.

The second one was about victims of ongoing, horrific sexual abuse in the Congo.

In both cases, it seems to me, the key theme revolves around the consequences of turning away.

Because there are always consequences. And sometimes, they are dire.

And so I ask myself: What makes people turn away from people in need, or in distress? Why do I turn away? I do, all the time. I can't even count the number of occasions when I have witheld my hand. And while I could come up with any number of reasons, none of them are particularly good. Fear of getting involved in something I can't get out of, is probably at the top. Or perhaps, I am busy and in a hurry--can't afford to stop! Maybe because I care more about my own comfort, my own image, than about some stranger.

I'm not writing this to make anyone feel guilty. Goodness knows, we all have enough to feel bad about in our lives, without my adding to the burden! I guess I'm writing it because I wish I knew how to change the tide of my own consciousness, which til now is so focused on myself that I can hardly see anyone else.

I guess I'm writing about it, too, because the two articles taken together seemed to tell a story that we as a nation should heed carefully--when lives become expendable in the pursuit of a "higher goal" or "greater good," of what worth, really, is that goodness? When people are in desperate need of help, and we busy ourselves only in the matters that further our own interests, what becomes of our "moral authority"?

I hate thinking about these things. But I know I need to. I just hope it doesn't stop at thinking. Too often, that's exactly what it does.

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away

It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

--Pink Floyd