Originally Posted by
Elin
While Hypnos was a little bit blunt, and I probably wouldn't go so far as to say something like that myself, I don't think it's an indication of a lack of compassion or sympathy as a whole on his part. He's simply making a very valid point. It's hard to be sympathetic here when, unless you happen to have several tons of sand dropped on you all at once, suffocating in a sandbox is...not exactly the sort of thing that should ever happen by accident.
Don't get me wrong, I actually get pretty upset hearing stories like this, and can't even begin to imagine the feeling of loss his parents must be going through... I'm not about to joke or make light of the situation. But you've got to wonder at how a kid that age could not realise that lack of oxygen = very, very bad. Or, if we assume that he was simply lacking in common sense (as, to be fair, I was too at that age), why one of his friends didn't stop and point it out? Or even why his parents let him play unattended in a sandbox, knowing that he was, presumably, not the sharpest tool in the shed of common sense? As far as I'm concerned, if your child doesn't know that sticking their hand into fire will get them burned, you don't let them go near fire until they do.
So yeah, as upsetting as it is, I think it's hard to view this as a tragedy so much as just carelessness. It's a tragedy when a maniac breaks into a school and shoots a bunch of defenseless kids. It's a tragedy when someone gets plastered, gets behind the wheel, and mows down a mother and her three-year-old daughter. This, though? It's sad, but only sad in that it so easily could have been averted. So I can see where Hypnos is coming from, and I don't think you should be so quick to equate his comments with some sort of absolute lack of compassion on his part.