NOBODY CARES...Right?

people die. It's a fact, an unavoidable fate that awaits all living things. It's HOW they die, and WHY they die that makes a difference. You might die in a car crash (See "Bloodrock" song "DOA" for a gorey description.) You might freeze to death (Happened in Michigan, somebody had been unable to pay his electric bill and they put on a "Restrictor"...the man froze to death)
You might develop cancer (Like Justice Ginsburg, or Patrick Swayze), die from complications of diabetes, or a strangulated hernia. Nobody cares.

A person dies in the hospital waiting room: The interns, nurses, patients, and doctors all step over the body. They ignore the person on the floor. This is exactly the type of situation that the man we know as Jesus condemned. "They saw, but they passed by on the other side."

A person is starving, out of money... has no way to get food or shelter. Nobody cares. Like Dickens had Scrooge saying, "If they are going to die, let them do it and decrease the surplus population."

Such it is with many. No money to get anywhere, no way to keep warm -- they die on the street, and people will step over the body. Nobody cares.

I can point to my own situation as an example -- while some of my family helps...but how do we keep going?

My car gives out. I try to get to work, calling my work to tell them I need help getting in. And what do they tell me? "It's YOUR responsibilty to find someone who will help you." And in doing so, they wash their hands of their responsibility to help people who need help.

A man, beaten, robbed, on the street: "Get yourself to a hospital, pay your bill, or die."

I grant you, in this economy it is difficult to assist. Many people are unemployed, cold, sick, dying...and nobody helps. But the help you can get is in jail. Or just as bad, from the Federal govt. Reagan said it well: "Some of the most frightening words you can hear: I'm from the Federal Government, and I'm here to help."

But where is charity? Where is caring? Where is compassion?

Paul's admonination falls upon deaf ears. "Faith, hope, love, abide these three. But the greatest of these is love." Love, compassion, charity -- all part of the faith many profess. But who actually follows this advice? Oh, sure, there are a few. The late Percy Ross, Bill Gates, some assorted millionnaires or billionnaires who have made a fortune, and decide it's good to distribute a few trinkets to the needy. After all, you need a few good deeds in your history to assure you get to heaven, right?

So, where is the compassion, the love which is needed?

Excuse me -- I have to take care of myself. And in order to do so, I have to step over a few bodies. I assume that, if I don't make it, nobody will care. May the vultures clean their bones...just like they'll do to me.