How morally bankrupt have we become as a nation? There are distressingly many examples you can choose from. But one that demonstrates the sheer depths to which we have collectively sunk is the main thrust of a report out of Breezy Point, Queens.
The New York Post notes that residents of that New York City outskirt–one of the hardest hit by superstorm Sandy–returned from their Thanksgiving holiday in exile to find that their homes, or what was left of them, had been looted. In one of the more vicious acts, vandals made off with a $25,000 coin collection and some jewelry.
None of the crimes, however, better punctuates the indifference to suffering of which some among us are capable than the theft of a family’s change jar. To violate the space of another person whose life has been cast adrift by adversity is bad enough. To steal something trivial–to plunder in essence for the perverse joy of plundering–bespeaks a level of callousness that should provide a wake-up call to all of humanity.
The break-ins, the Post writes, occurred Wednesday or Thursday. In all, 14 homes were violated. In some cases the homes were so badly damaged by the storm that residents weren’t initially aware upon returning that their homes had been broken into.
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