An item in the news this week told of a woman in Boston who, back in 2002, took her roommate’s nine month-old baby out of his crib, slashed his throat, and left him next to a neighbor’s garbage can to die.

She recently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and could be released from prison in 29 years. She did this in retaliation for being asked to move out.

As horrific as this is, if it was an isolated incident one could be excused for thinking that the woman was most likely mentally ill. Unfortunately, this and similar acts are occurring at an alarmingly frequent rate. What’s going on in our country?

Over the past 40 years there’s been a definite shift in public attitudes and beliefs. On the whole, our society now places more value on taking care of ourselves and less on what we owe to others; more on doing what we want and what feels good and less on respectability and social expectations; more on self-expression and less on restraint.

Philosophers, theologians and politicians all have attempted to speak about the problem and there are as many answers as there are experts, but the one hard fact that can’t be changed is that the ultimate responsibility lies with us, the people.

Many blame Hollywood and the media in general for the decline in morality. True, movies, TV shows, magazines, etc. contain material that never would have appeared in times past, and those entities certainly must shoulder a large part of the burden.

However, we are the ones who have allowed, tolerated and in many instances encouraged the changes to take place. Now suddenly, many are asking why things are so different and why people act the way they do. The saying that “It takes a village to raise a child” is no longer true. All it takes is a television, ipod and the newest video game system.

At one time, if you did something wrong, the entire neighborhood knew about it before you were able to get home, and you knew without a doubt that there would be hell to pay when you faced your parents.

Today, many parents don’t punish their children, definitely don’t want anyone else to and often make excuses for any bad behavior or trouble their kids cause.

We desperately need to rethink what it means to be human, to care for ourselves and our neighbors. When we face that, we will not only strengthen humanity but our nation as well. To ignore that responsibility will be to our detriment.