Aren't People Ashamed?

I ran across an article yesterday that discusses the use of surrogates in India by people from more developed countries (U.S., Britain, France, Japan, and Israel). The article discusses why the women do it, the ethics behind it, etc. Many of the India women already have children and become surrogates so that they will be able to send their own children to school.

Of course the comments were generally atrocious with a mix of opinions ranging from 'this is so sad' to 'these women are making the best choice possible for their particular situations' to the infertile people crying 'but you don't know what it's like to be infertile and not be able to have the kids you want!'

As I read the article and the comments, I couldn't help but ponder a phrase from Two Arms and a Head: The Death of a Newly Paraplegic Philosopher. In the book there is a quote that has really stuck with me and sometimes it will just pop into my head when I think about a particularly crappy situation. The quote is: "God loves us? Aren't people ashamed to say such things?" In my head I've reorganized it into "Aren't people ashamed to say God loves us?" That's how I felt in particular as I read the arguments that tried to justify the women doing this in order to survive and care for their children.

Aren't people ashamed to say they live in a world that both allows and produces such grotesque poverty that it puts people in such situations? How can a person not be ashamed to say that?

It's times like these that I really feel that I'm actually a Martian and I wonder how I ended up on this pitiful planet called Earth.

Even based on the assumption that we can't change anything and 'that's just how things are,' I still can't comprehend that people are not utterly ashamed of the world we live in.

But I guess that's just me.