Man on the ledge shows our compassion is precarious

ONE fabulously hot morning last month, a man stood on the roof of a building in Dublin City centre, indicating, by his actions if not words, that he planned to throw himself off.

He was at a height of 60 feet, perched precariously on the apex of an ornate ridge, holding onto a flag pole, but occasionally shaking it as if to stop himself getting too comfortable.

He’d lean forward and look to the ground below, before straightening up again, and checking his footing on a ridge so narrow it forced him to tiptoe.