Selective Empathy

by R. G. Hall, Jr./PNN Prison Correspondent

When I turned on my TV on September 11, 2001, I couldn't believe what I saw, when the TV screen focused the picture, and a devastated Federal building, smoke, and flames encompassed my vision.
It was bad enough to witness a jet stuck in the top of one of the World Trade Center Towers. The horror was further magnified by the sight of a second jet coming out of nowhere and crashing head-on into the second tower. Suddenly, I reflected on the TV images of madness during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and came to the sorrowful revelation, how ignorantly destructive some people turn out to be without conscious.

I watched one skycrapper collapse, then the other. I was stunned in utter awe. Then I realized that a whole bunch of people were in the inside and around the outside of the crumbling catastrophe. It was later reported that was indeed the case. Hours later I was hurled for yet another moment of disbelief when a choir of politicians on the steps of the Nation’s Capitol appeared on the TV screen singing "God Bless America." Just when you thought they say the damndest things, they proved they can sing such oddities as well. I'm sure if all the innocent people holding on for dear life, under unimaginable tons of concrete and steel, heat and thick smoke, had heard them, they would have seriously wondered where their empathy was. One thing that God knew, and all the victims and public servants at the scene knew ... This was hardly a blessing. Nor was it something to sing about.

As the days and weeks passed, like most Americans, I awaited the chaotic plot to thicken. The national media and press made damn sure everybody stayed glued to their seats in utter paranoia. As they assured us all, "Stay tuned for the next terrorist attack..." From sea to shining sea, they had no clue from where it would come. Then out of nowhere, Anthrax hit the screen like "the snowstorm of the century." Just when folks thought they were far from harms way, they looked at their mailbox and ate crow.

Before you knew it America went about its normal business... in a way, and the Major League play-offs started up again. And then the World Series was under way. They sure said it right: "Life would not be the same as we knew it."
It all started on a Major League baseball field. Neither God, American History, or anyone living on the planet today have ever read about or witnessed Americans so patriotic. Ultra -patriotic at that. You don't see that many American flags on the 4th of July, or Flag Day. A whole lot of folks brandished a flag for the first time in their lives.

If only they had been hit with super-duper patriotism a few a few months earlier, they could have bought a flag, or stars and stripes apparel for a cheaper price. The symbolic American bald eagle wasn't the only feathered friend sensationalizing the prompted hoopla. A whole lot of free enterprising vultures were flying around, too. And you can bet your jacked-up dollars they are not on the endangered species list.

We also discovered that tragedy does in fact bring folks together. It also gets the heat off people for awhile. Congressman Gary Condit, Rudy Guliani, and certain brutality mongering New York policemen will attest to that. Suddenly because all hell broke out and countless innocent people came up on the dirty end of the stick, others became stars as they basked in the heavenly glory of moments of fame and horror.

Nevertheless, they should all reap our utmost respect and highest regard for so valiantly rising to the occasion, like true champions of humanity for others. I am sure that no member of the New York City Fire or Police Departments had a publicity stunt brainstorm and went out of their way to make sure countless heads wore department caps for all to see. It just happened, and without question, they all deserved to be remembered and shown the utmost acknowledgment and appreciation.

But somewhere in the midst of the sensationalized ceremonies, the new threats and war developments, many people were buried under more than tons of rubble. They were overshadowed by the direction the media’s cameras turned, by the direction the journalist’s pens rolled. They are the everyday John and Jane Doe citizens who, like New York City public servants, were injured or killed. Many of these brave souls, some untrained, some uniformed, valiantly rose to the occasion and risked their lives to save others.

It would have been nice to hear one of them sing the national anthem during the World Series. It would have been truly noble if only a few people wore a cap in remembrance and in honor of them. Hopefully, someone in the near future will unveil a statue in their honor and memory. Most important, people need to start recognizing the suffering and efforts of everyone, without exception, with equal momentum. It seems that the whole root of the evil is that we too often demonstrate selective empathy for our fellow human beings. This is the root of racism, injustice, and disunity. And without a doubt, it is the motivating seed of criminality, and terrorism as well. The most effective national and global security starts with how we think of, acknowledge and treat each other ... without exception.