A current topic of debate is the amount of support and services we are willing to provide for handicapped people.
Many people believe that society has become more caring over the ages.
However, if we look back in time, this may not prove to be true.
A good example can be found by looking at some remains of a prehistoric culture.
Several skeletons were found in the Shanidar Cave in Iraq.
It was the home of a tribe of Neanderthal who existed more than 40000 years ago.
One of these skeletons was of a man of about 40 years, an old age for that period.
He is thought to have been killed by a falling stone.
Careful study of the bones has shown that the man's right arm had never fully developed and had been cut off below the elbow.
The condition of the teeth was also unlike that of other Neanderthal men's.
They showed signs of excessive use, as if they had been employed to make up for the lack of a right arm.
How could someone so handicapped from his earliest years have survived to become an adult, and even live on to old age?
Societies in such early times faced severe conditions.
People who could hunt for meat were few.
A handicapped person must have needed to keep close to the cave and been provided with meat.
This seems to indicate a far greater degree of concern for the individual than previously assumed.
In fact, the level of care shown toward this tribesman is not always seen in present-day societies.
Such concern indicates a sense of unity and cooperation that made possible the future achievements of humanity.
With this in maid, are we doing enough for the handicapped?
Rather than being too proud of the efforts that modern society has made, it would be wise to consider if we even equal the efforts of "precivilized" societies.