A Nation of Apathy

Yet another incident shows how insensitive we are towards another man's suffering in our country. This comes after the Keenan-Reuben case where the two young men were killed because they came forward to protect their female friends from some inebriated goons. Related to this issue, the Supreme Court has also said that medical care is the first priority in an emergency. Till then there was a (justified?) fear that helping a person who was the victim of an accident or personal attack would lead to legal complications to the good samaritan. In spite of the Supreme Court's directive we see the situation continuing. In the article, the link of which is provided above we read that onlookers just well, looked on, as a man burnt, and that for quite some time.

We in India are taught from childhood to respect our elders. Probably as an extension to this and as an extension to our struggle under the Britishers we have come to fear powerful people and/or those in authority. In the cases mentioned above this would refer to the attacking goons. This and probably the fear of the legal process are what hold back people. I cannot think of any other logical reason. My mother was in fact rescued from such a situation via the kind act of a person, who alas I have not been able to meet. My mother met with an accident when I was in Intermediate. Till date, she does not know how that happened, and neither do we. We only know that luckily for her, a person who was working in a government hospital happened to pass by the crowd that had gathered after her accident and rushed her to the hospital. When asked, the crowd simply said it was a woman, and they did not want to get involved!

This probably is also an explanation of our tolerance for corruption or any other evils in our society today. We live under the impression that it has happened to "someone else" and not to us. Do I actually realize that to others, I am the "someone else"? One is reminded of the story where a person does not protest when Jews and people from other communities were targeted (it was either in Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia). He does not say anything as it was someone else being targeted. In the end the government comes for him and he finds no one left to defend him. I might be paraphrasing but this is the gist. 

So I think first of all the Supreme Court's directive needs to be widely publicized to assure people that they will not get into legal tangles by helping others. Further probably because of our population there are not many resources to pass around, and we tend to get close-fisted. Ironically we are the country that produced the tales of Shibi, Karna and Bali. Also, remember the story of the mongoose with golden fur from the Mahabharata (this will be my next blog post). So there also seems to be a need to inculcate the quality of sharing and helping others in our children via their families and their formal education also, for it is today's children that we hope will become tomorrow's dutiful citizens.