Take the compassionate road

Seeking help: Villagers from the Orang Asli Kampung Sungai Cot in Maran, Pahang, waiting for the PM outside his residence recently. — Anwar Ibrahim Facebook

READING the news recently, I was struck by a couple of common thread among the articles. One is a lack of empathy and compassion for other people. Secondly, a seeming lack of self-awareness that none of us is truly safe from being cast in the same boat or in behaving in exactly the ways that we despise in others.

Malaysians by and large are usually generous and kind. I have seen myriad examples of this in the way we treat orphans, the poor, and the ill. Our various faiths exhort us to show empathy and compassion towards those unluckier than us, and many of us do obey, judging by the many donations and offers of support the needy receive upon appealing.