After reading Ziggie's good-bye, I don't think we know the whole story well enough to decide Ziggie isn't deserving of compassion...clearly more was going on than exists in this little place and I think the mean spiritedness displayed by someone here just added to other problems being struggled with. Sometimes it is just one more mean word, one more unkind act, one last cruelty that breaks a spirit. I was agreeing with you up until your last statement, Legume. I don't think showing compassion is ever a waste of time...there's not a finite quantity of it that you have to measure out by droplets and save for special occasions. I'm just glad there were so many people who decided to show their compassion. It's sad when showing empathy for another human being becomes a subject for derision. But it isn't the only sad thing here. Tolerance is in short supply too. As is respect. As is trying to understand another person's viewpoint. As is humility. Oh well. What am I talking about. This is the Wild West. We don't need no stinkin' compassion here.