We must view this episode in the wider perspective of philosophy. If we do this we may learn a most important lesson. It will then be seen that the law of compensation takes account not only of sins of commission but also sins of omission. For we were in the position of a man who could see from his window that a householder in a distant street was being attacked and robbed with brutal violence, a man who wanted to help the victim but hesitated to interfere because he loathed fights and wanted to live a peaceful life. Thus he sways between two contending emotions until one or the other finally overcomes him. We had reached the latter part of this internal conflict and would undoubtedly have yielded to her better self and gone to the rescue of endangered humanity before long. But we were moving a little too slowly, hesitating a little too much, and the karmic consequence of this was tragic. It was the terrible price which had to be paid for delay in doing the right thing. Other peoples had to pay karmically for the same mistake but they paid far more heavily because they made the mistake in too many directions and for too long a time. There was a clear duty in this inter-dependent age to help actively on the right side. The world distress is mostly due to karma. But we need a broader interpretation of this word. Many of us may be good and innocent but we have to suffer with all others, not for what we have done but for what we left undone. Today sorrow misses nobody. This is because humanity is completely interdependent. That is the lesson we have to learn; that we let others remain in woe or ignorance at our own peril. We are one.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience > Chapter 4 : World Crisis > # 69
