Beware, Dee's Been Deep Thinking...
I hope this isn't tooo moody for a Friday...
It started because my DVD player wasn't hooked up and I couldn't find the tv remote. So I was stuck watching this daytime talkshow and they were going over a really appalling case. There was a video tape of some poor guy--jaywalking--who gets hit by a car. Shocking and sad, right?
Not as shocking or sad as the fact that the car didn't slow down as it drove away. Neither did traffic. Or foot traffic. The guy is laying sprawled in the road and it takes a while for someone to notice. Next thing you know, there's a crowd. Great, someone called 911, right?
Wrong. The crowd of pedestrians milled around the guy, one even picking up his phone to take a picture...and putting the phone back in his pocket. The whole thing was caught on a traffic camera. I never did see how long it took to get this guy some help. I had to change it manually because it was so horrible to see.
As you can imagine, it stayed with me. I was always brought up to help people, especially people who are in pain. Brought up to think that if I were ever in trouble, if I screamed for help in a busy street, someone would help me. Growing up in Fresno, trust me, that's saying something. To see that footage was like my worst nightmare come to life.
It was like someone struck a chord in the basis of my reality. It shook me, the possibility that I could be dying in the road and not only might it end up on youtube, but no one will bother to help me. And you know what? No one is legally required to. Good Samaritan laws protect people--or try to--who hurt you while trying to rescue you in good faith. So what happens to people who ignore you while you're in mortal peril? Apart from wishing they would burn in hell, in most states, not a whole heck of a lot. It really started to freak me out. I was even seeing examples of the cold hearted state of the world on tv, watching Law & Order even waxed poetic on the subject. And I grew more and more depressed.
Then, believe it or not, the news helped. There was a terrible car accident in the middle of LA. A drunk driver crashed into a car full of children, not all of which were in safety seats. The cars became a giant fireball. Did people go about their business? No. People swarmed from all sides of a four lane main street, perfect strangers who didn't know each other or these children, literally diving into a searing metal box of flames to try to save those kids. In most cases, it was a lost cause and they knew it. They sobbed into each other's arms and it had nothing to do with being different races or being afraid for someone they cared deeply about. It was about being human.
Later, in the middle of a flame war in the blogosphere, I read an account from a man who was explaining why his friend claimed he'd saved his life on 9/11. He said something significant that has rung some bells for my state of mind. "I’m not a decent person. I used to be a police officer and as luck had it I was in the vicinity the day of 9-11. Just as many did for their fellow man, I offered help where and how I could that day. I’m no hero; but when your neighbors need help you do what you can." Tuscan Capo is his name btw, and while he might not think himself a hero, he did do something extraordinary. He saved lives because he did take time to help people in need. He might not realize how rare that has become in this day and age, when folks either don't think about others or fear too much what they might be getting involved in, but his saying that meant a lot to me.
Maybe the world isn't the cold, unfeeling place we can sometimes be led to believe. Sure, there are some heartless folks out there. Yes, some of them might one day hold my life in their hands. But there are also people like Capo, people like those strangers on a street in LA, who value life and kindness and have the moral fiber not just to know to do the right thing, but to actually DO it. As long as just one person like that is out there...well, I'll sleep a little better at night.
Honestly
I really believe most people are good. I think we see more evidence of that every day than not -- there are the stories of horrible things like what happened to this man on the news, because they make for good TV, but I also think the larger number of people would do the right thing, or at least try to.
Sam
The news...
Ah, the news. I don't watch it, because like most television, it doesn't jibe with my sense of reality. The people I know are amazing, good, kind people who would go out of their way to help anyone...and they're just everyday citizens, not cops or firefighters or SEALs or what have you. I find the news so skewed to the horrible, violent, brutal, or just plain stupid, that I gave up watching several years ago. I read newspapers online, etc.
I live about 40 miles from the Boy Scout camp disaster, the one where the tornado killed four teenage boys. I was watching the weather in my basement when the news broke, and the first thing the newscasters said was "Anyone who wants to help should go to X location; the camp is overwhelmed with people bringing heavy equipment to move trees, dig up debris, etc. Please go to this location to get organized." Hundreds of people from small Iowa towns were there, in thunderstorms and lightning strikes and under another tornado warning, because that's what people do. They were making food for volunteers and the families, doing whatever they could to help. It's why the guys who take pictures and walk away are so shocking...and therefore newsworthy.
Dee, there are so many
Dee, there are so many horrible stories out there, that I hardly ever watch the news anymore; it's just too upsetting. But then I hear stories like the ones on the radio this morning, about several teenagers who rescued a young boy from drowning in a city pool, and the boy scouts who came to the aid of injured scouts after their camp site was devastated by a tornado, and the story of the teenager who refused to leave the side of a woman who was pinned in the wreckage of a commuter train crash, even though he didn't know her. So these stories give me hope that our world isn't completely devoid of compassion.
The story about the man struck while crossing the street was particularly disturbing, but you know what really freaked me out? The victim's name was Angel Torres--the same name as my hero in Flyboy!
Oh, and...
The news story this morning showing how in China a month ago, 5 of the reserve people at the Panda Reserve died holding their ground while the workers rushed to save the bears and physically carried them out of the reserve.
They lost two bears, but it could have been worse. I've also been researching race horse rescue, and people's treatment of animals is often the thing that makes me shake my head and think we seriously have no hope as a species, but then I realize there are the good ones who try to balance it all out, and hopefully they're more of them...
Sam
:( There is so much in the
:( There is so much in the world that depresses and shames me -- and then there are times when I'm so proud to be part of the human race. I'm an emotional roller coaster!
M
It's Good To Have Foundations Rocked...
from time to time. We can get complacent in the things we expect, of ourselves and others. I fully expect to help people if they need help in front of me. But this whole last week or so reminds me why I will. Reminds me THAT I will.
Thanks for the reminders, ladies, esp not to watch the news, lol!
Dee (who might just stick to horror movies instead)
LOL, Dee
;)
Margaret
Oh, Dee!
Hugs, because I could use one right now, too--what a horrible story about apathetic people! Like Karen and Margaret and others, I've stopped watching the news because it's all too disturbing. As Sam said, I do think there are lots of people who WILL get involved and do the right thing, and that continues to give me hope.
I don't watch the news, it
I don't watch the news, it is too sad.
Sadly
I took a Basic First Aid/CPR course last week. A good third of the class (the first third) was dedicated to how to protect ourselves in the case of a lawsuit if we were called on to give aid. How sad is that?
But if you live in a country that awards someone for purchasing hot coffee at a McDonalds, placing said hot coffee between your thighs, and then suing because your thighs are burnt, you live in a country that will award other bad behaviour also.
Still, I took the course in case I need to help someone someday. I pray that I don't, but I'm prepared to do what I can.
ani
Great points, ani
So true about the coffee... or suing fast food b/c they get fat... aiy.
Good for you on taking CPR!
I took it at community college when I went back to school, about 20 years ago, as part of a first aid course that satisfied the PE credits *G* and all I can remember is taking all the gross injury pictures out of the text book and the cute guy in the next seat knew, and would always flash me the picture of "BEAR BITE" (seriously, how did they know? Half the guy's head was missing...) ...from his book during class. Boys never grow up. LOL But he also taught me to play a mean game of pool, though I've forgotten that as well...
This is off topic, of course, and I know I went un-serious, but felt the need for levity. ;)
Sam