“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” Just because the famous aphorism is attributed to Joseph Stalin doesn’t mean it isn’t true. It is a commonplace of the pulpit and the editorial page that we are all joined in one great brotherhood of man and woman, that ”each man’s joy is joy to me, each man’s grief is my own,” to cite a popular hymn. But for many years I have wondered if that is true. I think compassion is like a radar signal that loses force the further it radiates from our hearts.