Two girls — described as being from a "Gypsy minority group" — died on the beach at Torregaveta, Italy, just west of Naples, after finding themselves in fierce waves and unable to swim to safety, CNN is reporting.
Lifeguards on-duty at the beach attempted to reach the girls in time, but managed only to pull their lifeless bodies from the sea, then initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Despite the best efforts of the lifeguards and emergency service personnel, the girls were not resuscitated.
After giving up on lifesaving efforts, the lifeguards covered each of the girls’ bodies with a beach towel out of respect for the dead. The feet and ankles of both girls poked from under the beach towels, a testament to two young lives snuffed out.
Within feet of the girls’ bodies, folks went about sunbathing and other beach antics as normal, ignoring the two dead bodies.
What took place on a beach almost half a world away from Philadelphia, or, for that matter, most major American cities, is something that’s a mirror image of things happening more-and-more in society at a quickening pace.
When people die or are murdered, others may stop and look out of curiosity, but most people don’t want to lend a hand to someone in need, let alone do anything to help another human being. Case in point: Esmin Green, 49, who died on the floor of the Kings County Hospital Center, a city-owned hospital, in Brooklyn.
According to the CNN story, a photograph who took photos at the scene said the mood among those on the beach had been one of indifference.
Some of the photos taken by the photographer who spoke with CNN clearly show sunbathers in bikinis and swimming trunks sitting close to where the girls’ feet can be seen poking from under the towels. Other photos show police officers lifting the bodies into coffins and carrying them away past bathers who reclined on sun loungers.
"While the lifeless bodies of the girls were still on the sand, there were those who carried on sunbathing or having lunch just a few meters away," CNN quoted the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, as reporting.
"Few left the beach or abandoned their sunbathing. When the police from the mortuary arrived an hour later with coffins, the two girls were carried away between bathers stretched out in the sun," the Italian newspaper continued.
The Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Crecenzio Seppe, wrote in his parish blog that "indifference is not an emotion for human beings. To turn the other way or to mind your own business can sometimes be more devastating than the events that occur."
In recent weeks, according to the CNN story, there has been problems between Italian authorities and Italy’s Gypsy minority groups amid a crackdown by the Italian government. It seems the government is targeting illegal immigrants — what a concept, huh? — and Italian government officials said there is a "Roma emergency" that has the 150,000-strong Gypsy migrant group blamed for much of the rising street crime.
The bickering has giving police the justification for raids on Gypsy camps, according to the CNN article. But it seems another controversial plan by the Italian government, to fingerprint all the Gypsies in Italy — something the European Parliament condemned, while United Nations officials say is a clear act of discrimination.
CNN reports that the Italian civil liberties group, EveryOne, said Saturday’s drowning occurred in an atmosphere of "racism and horror," added that the group had doubts about the reported version of events.
"The most shocking aspect of all this is the attitude of the people on the beach," the statement said. "No one appears the slightest upset at the sight and presence of the children’s dead bodies on the beach: they carry on swimming, sunbathing, sipping soft drinks and chatting."
While I may not know the situation firsthand in Torregaveta, Italy, in Naples, or elsewhere in Italy, I am aware of the situation in and around Philadelphia. People in certain neighborhoods here shoot each other over drugs, guns, and God only knows what else. There’s no remorse, only killing.
On a positive note here in Philadelphia, however, the killing spree is taking place at a slower pace than in the past year or two, which is good. That people want to kill others, and that innocent people get caught in crossfire — is bad.
More gun laws isn’t the answer. There are enough laws on the books now. Enforcement may be one answer, but the solution lies much, much deeper: the solution is in the fabric of society itself, and starts in the home.
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