Let’s make resolution to set aside (in)differences

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/12/2024 (264 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For me, it’s the kind of thing that can’t be un-seen; the kind of thing that makes you question what’s wrong with the world, and where we are headed.

Six days ago, at around 7:30 a.m. on an idling New York subway train, a man walked up to a woman who was asleep and he lit her clothes on fire. In a matter of seconds, the victim was fully engulfed in flames.

She didn’t fall to the floor in agony. Rather, she paced slowly back and forth as her body was being burned. As that was happening, the man who caused the fire fanned the flames with a T-shirt.

What happened next is even more disturbing, if that is possible. More than a dozen bystanders just stood there, watching the woman as she was burning, watching the man fanning the flames, but nobody did anything to help her or stop the perpetrator. Instead, several of them recorded the incident on their phones.

Recordings of the incident (posted online) show at least two transit police officers walk past the subway car with the burning woman in plain view, yet they kept walking. She was dying an agonizing death, yet they did nothing to help her.

In fact, they did worse than nothing. They didn’t even detain the killer, who had remained at the scene. He wasn’t arrested until hours later, on a different subway car. The woman’s burned body wasn’t removed from the subway car where she died until 1 p.m. — more than five hours after the incident that claimed her life.

The victim has still not been identified. It is currently believed that she was a homeless person who just needed to get some sleep, away from the winter cold. Now she’s dead; dead because nobody — not even the two cops — cared enough to help her.

It’s too easy to dismiss this terrible incident as something that happened far away, in another country, but the indifference shown by those bystanders to the woman’s terror is an example of the level of indifference to others’ suffering that we see everyday around the world, and in our nation, province and city.

Dozens of First Nations still don’t have safe drinking water. We don’t care. Homeless people are forced to sleep outside in the frigid cold. “That’s their problem,” we say. Record numbers of people are dying from overdoses in Brandon and Winnipeg. “That’s their fault,” we mutter. “They should have listened to Nancy Reagan and said ‘no’ to drugs.”

Russian aggression is killing Ukrainians every day, yet a recent poll shows that fewer Europeans care about what is happening in Ukraine than a year ago. Starvation continues to be a crisis in some African nations, yet nobody is talking about it, let alone doing anything to help. Violent weather events are happening more frequently, yet many people still refuse to take climate change seriously.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. There’s a lot of bad happening out there, lots to worry about. And much of that is happening because too many of us are growing increasingly indifferent — increasingly numb — to what is happening, even if the problem is affecting us directly.

We know we could collectively solve some problems, and prevent others from happening, yet too many of us can’t summon the ability to care, let alone the energy to pull ourselves off the couch (real or metaphorical) and actually do something.

It’s a dangerous, disheartening situation, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Indifference is a choice we don’t have to make.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen tremendous acts of caring here in Brandon. The Christmas Cheer Registry received a record amount of donations and was able to ensure that every family that requested a Christmas hamper received one. The Westman Traditional Christmas Dinner once again fed thousands of people on Christmas Day, thanks to the tireless efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

It’s awesome that we come together for important community causes at Christmas time, but here’s an idea worth considering: How about we stop making caring for others in our city a seasonal thing?

How about we try harder to set aside our differences — and set aside our indifference — throughout the entire year?

Think of it as a new year’s resolution and give it a try. It doesn’t have to be big, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. It could be as simple as shovelling your neighbour’s sidewalk, mowing an un-mowed boulevard or making a donation to a local food bank.

If more of us could do even that, who knows how much we could accomplish? Who knows how much more enjoyable Brandon would be to live in?

Isn’t it worth trying?

A personal note: As 2024 draws to a close, I wish each of you the very best in the new year. I always appreciate your emails, your comments and suggestions. It is an honour to write for you each week and, to quote a journalist I respect, I thank you for the privilege of your time.