THE story of Alan Barnes, the disabled man who was attacked and badly injured as he put out his bins then left lying on his Gateside doorstep; and Katie Cutler, the young mother who set up a fund-raising page on social media to help him, is a timely reminder that all is not cruelty, depravity and self-serving materialism in our modern, global society ("Mugged pensioner thanks fundraiser after £227,000 raised online", The Herald, February 2).
That a 67-year-old with Mr Barnes's life difficulties of short growth and poor sight should have been subjected to such an egregious example of man's inhumanity to man is appalling, as is the resulting fact of his subsequent fear of continuing to live in his own house.
Yet it is Ms Cutler's first instinct towards care, compassion and love of fellow man, in this case, a total stranger, that quickens the pulse and recalibrates our world-weary sense of what it is to be human in a virtual waste land of day-and-daily horror stories committed in the name of a wild variety of so-called "cause'.
The staggering sum of more than £250,000 so far donated to Ms Cutler's site, apart from the practical outcome of allowing Mr Barnes to move house, is also a reminder of the inherent goodness of a great many people who have nothing to gain from their personal largesse.
Yet, Ms Cutler and her actions will not change the world: sadly, it seems as though our age will continue to produce its victims and, mercifully, its carers. Many years ago, when asked what he thought about western civilisation, Mahatma Ghandi replied: "I think that sounds like a very good idea." He was, I believe, expressing a simple hope. I believe that the Katie Cutlers of the world, therefore, may be seen as human expressions of such hope, without which, in Thoreau's words, we might all, indeed, "live lives of quiet desperation."
In short, if, as many believe, life is a journey, I would be honoured to have Ms Cutler as my navigator.
Mr G McCulloch,
47, Moffat Wynd, Saltcoats.
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