The Laughing Matter

Earlier today, I was driving in Santa Monica and at the corner of Broadway and Lincoln, I noticed a very sad state of affairs. There was a group of individuals holding up signs--some red, some white, some hung over their chests, some professionally printed, and some hand painted on posterboard. When these individuals were walking through the crosswalk, I wrongly assumed they were protestors of some sort. In fact, they were holding signs about a missing 18-year old boy.

It was when I looked at the group on the southeast corner of the intersection, that I became immediately disturbed. The three people holding signs that read MISSING PERSON were engaged in conversation. It wasn't the conversation that disturbed me but rather the fact that they were laughing. Is it just me or is this profoundly inappropriate?

I'm not saying every second of the day should be engrossed in sadness or preemptive mourning of a boy who has disappeared, but at least if you are going to stand on the corner asking the rest of us to consider his whereabouts, you could acknowledge the seriousness of the task at hand. It's clear that I am very upset by this, but what is even more upsetting is the fact that after watching them laugh, that's all I could focus on--so much so, that I don't even know the boy's name. I'm not kidding. I was so appalled by their behavior that I missed the entire point of holding the sign.

This leads me to a question I find myself asking nearly every day: What is wrong with people? In what hemisphere would the behavior I witnessed ever be okay? Ever. Know your audience. Know the temperature of the room--or at least of the people arriving at the intersection in this case. Know common decency and the fact that someone's child is missing and they may never come back.

I could continue on and on about my disappointment in mankind after witnessing this, but it isn't necessary. Silence is what I was looking for with them. So that's exactly what I'm going to leave you with now.