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"Candidly
Yours"
September 5, 2001
Inconvenient People
by Linda
A. Prussen-Razzano
Although the 1980s have sarcastically been deemed the
"decade of greed," perhaps they should best be remembered
as "the decade of need." Talk shows exploring every possible
avenue of victimhood burst onto the television, ranging
from the altruistic to the exploitative. Crimes were no
longer framed in the simplistic black and white of good
or evil; every minute detail of an alleged criminal’s
background was now dragged to the forefront in an unabashed
effort to gain sympathy for them and to trivialize their
crimes. People were no longer responsible for their actions,
for most surely they were the "victim" of something, somewhere,
if they thought hard enough and searched far enough.
It is no wonder that society is coarser? When every bad
turn of luck or unfortunate circumstance somehow classifies
a person for special sympathy, there is only so much "caring"
another person can do. Over the course of my lifetime,
I have seen expectation levels concerning the uncertainty
of life change dramatically; I was raised understanding
that life is not easy, there are no guarantees, and every
fortunate event is a bona fide blessing. Nowadays, it
seems that those who don’t have a perfect life deserve
recompense for graduating from the school of hard knocks,
instead of recognizing that surviving this school makes
them stronger people later in life.
In short, society is sick of the whining and complaining.
The level of intolerance towards those who can’t face
life’s challenges is now acute. What before garnered sympathy
and support now draws cynicism; unfortunately, this monstrous
overplaying of the "victim" card has lessened our capacity
for kindness towards those who genuinely need it.
Case in point is the 26-year-old woman in Seattle, who,
after 3 hours of indecision, jumped the 160-foot drop
off the Ship Canal Bridge. News reports suggest that some
travelers, stuck with the woman on the bridge as traffic
came to a screeching halt, encouraged her to jump. This
woman was obviously reaching out, in the most visible
way, for help. The most interesting part of this story
rests not with the jumper, but with those on the ground.
They had, in those hours, the opportunity to reach this
woman’s heart and show her that life is worth living;
however, the cries of the hecklers won out, causing her
to take the near fatal plunge.
On a more intimate level is the case of Stacy Tarlton,
a 31-year-old woman from Florida. According to the Associated
Press, she had approached her friend, Dennis Gallagher,
on August 17, in a "distraught, depressed, and intoxicated"
state. Mr. Gallagher allegedly grew weary of her lamentations
and offered her a loaded firearm, advising, "If your life
is so bad, end it." (Associated Press, Saturday, Sept.
1, 2001; 4:49 p.m. EDT, Tampa, Florida). Ms. Tarlton successfully
committed suicide by shooting herself in the head and
Mr. Gallagher has been charged with manslaughter.
In as much as the hecklers and Mr. Gallagher were intrinsic
fringe elements in both these sad dramas, the fact remains
that both of these women made the ultimate choice; the
Seattle woman to jump and Ms. Tarlton to shoot herself.
Mr. Gallagher is no more culpable for Ms. Tarlton’s death
than the hecklers are for the Seattle woman’s injuries.
Their only failing was not taking the opportunity to offer
compassion when needed.
Being unsympathetic is not a crime. It is a sad by-product
of the overly sensitive and forced "caring" mantra-ridden
politically correct society in which we live. We are constantly
being told that we "must" care for this cause or that
oppressed group. As a result, when we are faced with genuine
need in our everyday lives, our well of concern has already
been tapped dry by yesterday’s nightly news.
What a truly troubling state of affairs.
I don’t have any answers for you, although I wish I did.
Only you know how you would respond to either situation,
were you in them. One thing I do know – your response
says more about how much you value life than it says about
those who see no value in their own. ***
© 2001 Linda Prussen-Razzano
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