Are we less sensitive to the suffering of others?

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I have noticed that people are increasingly less sensitive to the suffering of others specially when it is happening right before their eyes and when sometimes they themselves are the cause of that misery.
People beat up child servants without even thinking about their situations-the fact that those servants are just children who are living far away from their homes, and sometimes it even happens that they are orphans or have lost one parent. The fact that these kids also have feelings and that anyone can make mistakes, real or imagined, and that should be no reason to inflict pain on under-aged humans. Some are sadistic and enjoy hurting others specially those who are weaker and will not hit back. These are the people who need to be pointed out that they have some loose screws up there and should see a psychiatrist without being self conscious or taking it as an insult.
Then there are those rickshaw passengers who will not get down just because the rickshaw puller is having trouble negotiating a treacherous road tract filled with potholes and troughs. I saw one such scene the other day in our neighbourhood. The poor rickshaw puller must have been over seventy, thin and short, and his vehicle had got stuck in a hole but the passengers -- a young man and woman, probably brother and sister (identical features and both on the heavy side) refused to get down, and make it any easier for the puller to move it to a more level portion of the road. Even though other passers-by were muttering under their breath for the two behemoths to be reasonable, the pair did not move-until the driver himself confirmed loudly that if the passengers did not get down they may be stuck in that place forever. This time, reluctantly, the two did as indicated.

Mohammad Kamruddin
Uttara,
Dhaka