It is a sad comment about the state of our society has that I was not surprised by the news report I was watching, although I was disgusted.

When you advocate for the homeless, the addicted and the mentally ill you learn just how uncaring and wilfully ignorant society can be.

But listening to the comments of motorists and the mayor of North Vancouver left me appalled.

To deal with a suicidal woman police closed the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to traffic, causing gridlock and inconveniencing thousands of drivers. Leading to calls for “new protocols” so the motoring public will not be inconvenienced by the actions needed to save a human life from suicide.

When and how did we as a society become so narcissistic, self-centered and “it is all about me” that a human life is not worth a few hours of inconvenience for motorists, even several thousand motorists?

And just how frightening for the future of society is it that the news report treated this as just a story, never asking the question of whether a human life is not worth a little, or even a lot of, inconvenience?