Americans have lost compassion for downtrodden

Graham Jenkins, Cape May Court House, N.J.

Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

Regarding the first-person article Sunday, “I Am Frightened,” by Rodger Jacobs, who was on the brink of becoming homeless:

What frightens me is not the article itself (though to be sure, it is a nightmare scenario) but the comments on the website at the end of the article.

This is depressing. Some of these comments are sickening.

What happened to America, land of boundless compassion, wisdom, feelings for the plight of one’s fellow man?

I cannot even begin to fathom whatever tortuous path has led us to arrive at these utterly savage comments, where the desperate times on which a man has fallen aren’t even acknowledged as fact, much less treated with any kind of sympathy.

How have we reached the point where it is automatically the victim’s fault? Jacobs has spent his life as a hardworking, productive member of society. I assume he’s paid his taxes regularly, and now he’s on the receiving end of the same system that he spent his adult life paying into.

That’s how it works. You support today’s elderly and infirm so that tomorrow a younger generation will support you. As Baby Boomers, your parents gave you absolutely everything, and asked only that you “pay it forward.”

Instead, the past three decades have been spent attempting to dismantle the social safety net that has allowed Americans to live without fear of poverty.

This is America. We take care of one another. We respect one another’s right to worship in a manner of their choosing.

We believe that gainful employment is to be encouraged, but when honest attempts at seeking such employment fail, we will help you. Because we are America, and we care about one another.

What the hell is happening in this country?