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Does Anyone Really Care?

“The tears of those being oppressed” have become a torrent. They are shed by victims of countless “acts of oppression” all over the world. Those who have been victimized often feel that they have “no comforter”​—that no one really cares about them.​—Ecclesiastes 4:1.

DESPITE this torrent of tears, some are unmoved by the suffering of their fellow humans. They turn a blind eye to the pain of other people, as did the priest and the Levite in Jesus Christ’s illustration about a man who was assaulted, robbed, and left half dead by the roadside. (Luke 10:30-32) As long as things are going relatively well for them and their families, they are not concerned about others. In effect, they say, “Who cares?”

We should not be surprised at this. The apostle Paul foretold that in “the last days” many people would lack “natural affection.” (2 Timothy 3:1, 3) One observer lamented the uncaring attitudes that have developed. “The old Irish philosophy and tradition of caring and sharing,” he said, “is being replaced by a new code of making and taking for ourselves.” Worldwide, people make and take for themselves, with almost complete indifference to the plight of others.

A Need for Someone to Care

There surely is a need for someone to care. For example, think about the lonely man in Germany who was “found sitting in front of his television set​—five years after his death at Christmas.” This “divorced, disabled loner,” embittered by his sad experiences in life, was not missed until the bank account that paid his rent was exhausted. No one really cared about him.

Think, too, of the helpless victims of powerful, greedy overlords. In one area, about 200,000 people (a quarter of the population) “died from repression and famine” after their land was violently seized from them. Or think of the children who were exposed to almost unbelievable savagery. Said one report: “The percentage of children in [one land] who witnessed multiple atrocities​—killings, beatings, rape, sometimes committed by other adolescents, is staggering.” You can understand why a victim of such injustices might tearfully ask, “Does anyone really care about me?”

According to a United Nations report, 1.3 billion people in the developing world have to survive on the equivalent of less than one U.S. dollar a day. They must wonder if anyone cares. So do thousands of refugees who, says a report in The Irish Times, “are faced with the unpalatable choice of staying in a wretched camp or inhospitable country or attempting to return to a homeland still riven [or, torn apart] by war or ethnic division.” The same report included this chilling exercise: “Close your eyes, count to three, a child has just died. One of the 35,000 children that will die today from malnutrition or preventable disease.” No wonder many cry out in distress and bitterness!​—Compare Job 7:11.

Is all of this simply meant to be? Realistically, is there anyone who not only cares but also has the power to stop the suffering and to heal all the pain that people have experienced?

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Cover and page 32: Reuters/​Nikola Solic/​Archive Photos

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A. Boulat/​Sipa Press