René Robert, an 85-year-old Swiss photographer who apparently died of hypothermia, an extremely cold body temperature, after collapsing and spending nine hours sprawled and neglected on a bitterly cold Paris street, has sparked grief, outrage, and incredulity throughout France and the world!

René Robert, a Swiss photographer best known for his photographs of some of Spain's most famous flamenco performers, died last week after collapsing during one of his nightly walks around his crowded Paris neighborhood.

According to his journalist friend Michel Mompontet, Robert collapsed in Paris. "He fell due to a dizzy episode," Mompontet wrote in a series of tweets. "Unable to rise, he remained rooted to the spot in the bitter cold for nine hours until a homeless person called 911." It is too late. He was suffering from hypothermia and was clinging to life. No passersby inquired as to why this man was sleeping on the pavement throughout those nine hours. Not a single."

Mompontet claimed that his friend was "killed by indifference," adding, "If this heinous death serves any purpose, it is this: when a human is lying on the pavement, we should check on them – regardless of how busy we are."

Mompontet noted that many individuals, including himself, frequently look the other way when confronted with people on the street. He asked himself: "Am I certain that if confronted with such scene - a man on the ground – I would have come to a halt?" Has it ever occurred to me to turn away from a homeless person laying in a doorway?"

The tragedy, which occurred in an area of Paris known for its high concentration of homeless people, triggered a debate about civic accountability and fundamental human decency and dignity. "The photographer René Robert, dead in the apathy of the middle of the street" read a headline in the newspaper, Le Figaro.

"The death of René Robert, who immortalized all the great flamenco musicians with his camera, challenges our collective conscience," the Spanish embassy in the Netherlands tweeted.

Francisco José Arcángel, a Grammy-winning flamenco performer. “I don’t want to think that we live in a society with so few values.”

We need to ask ourselves: “What is wrong with us as a society that this could happen?" it is in this context that Pope Francis has urged us to be good Samaritans to each other in his recent encyclican, Fratelli Tutti. In spite of our technological advancements and urban culture, we just cannot forget that we need to be brothers and sisters to each other. In different ways we are vulnerable. All of us.

We cannot close our eyes and enjoy the benefits of our own individual freedom and comfort at the expense of our own brothers and sisters. Our indifference can destroy our humanity and human destiny.

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