Sometimes, the news in the papers just wrenches your heart out and makes you wonder if the world is going to shambles. But once in a while, you read about something so tragic, so remarkably sad that you can almost feel the pain and for a moment there your heart is engulfed in a wave of sadness.
An inquest at Bournemouth heard the terrible story of a mentally ill man who continued to try and feed his father's decomposing body and was playing music in his dead mother's ears. He believed they were still alive.
Police found the bodies of John and Christine Dumsday in an upstairs flat with the son Paul right by their side. There was a napkin round Mr Dumsday's neck and walkman headphones in Mrs Dumsday's ears.
How did this family get so neglected that months went by before anyone noticed? Why have we become so self-centred, so private that we don’t know who are neighbour is? We don’t know his name, have probably passed him by in a corridor but never stopped to notice, to say hello, to just smile.
How many more Pauls exist around us? I have an inkling this incident is just an indication of the sickness that has spread through our society. We are in urgent need of treatment and rehabilitation.
The disease has already claimed so many lives. And so many more are at stake. This disease goes by the name of apathy.
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