Europeans are outraged by pictures this week showing two dead teenage girls laid out on a beach with their feet sticking out from under covers. It was not the corpses, however, that shocked many. It was the sunbathers sitting only a few feet away, unconcerned and unbothered by the dead girls as they enjoyed the beach. The fact that the girls were Roma, or gypsies, has added to the controversy.
The Italians, and many tourists, have a long hostility for the Roma. Indeed, a Roma camp was burned to the ground last year.
The two girls are believed to have been begging and selling trinkets on the beach when they went for a swim. They could not swim and the strong current proved too much for them.
For the pictures, click here.
The Church and newspapers have decried the response of sunbathers.
La Repubblica wrote “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 metres away.”
For the full story, click here.
You have to love those wacky Italians! It does show a degree of arrogance and indifference to lie there sunbathing with two dead girls laying there. It is sad that the lives of two young people are not valued in Italian society. It reminds me a certain President’s arrogance over the dead in Iraq and the tortured souls at Bagram and Gitmo. No difference.
As a rhetorical question, how far away is “far enough”? Clearly we would not be shocked by people continuing as usual several kilometers away. They would be unlikely to know anything is amiss. What about 500m away? 100m? 10?
How long should behavior be affected? During the time when they’re struggling to survive, certainly. When they’re brought ashore. But an hour later? And to what extent? E.g., dancing would be disrespectful, but sitting quietly? Perhaps deep in discussion on the briefness of life?
I don’t have any answers. But the photos made it clear that people weren’t literally arms-length from the bodies while others were struggling to revive them. I think they should have moved down the beach, but that brings us back to the original question. What do you do after all that can be done (for the deceased) has been done?
At least remove them from the public area, in this case a beach. It is disrespectful to leave them laying out there in full view of the bystanders.
If you had to only eat three things for the rest of your life, day in and day out, what would they be?
cookies, cake and ice cream