Here is my fourth blog, I find it very disturbing how easy it is to come up with situations to show you to get my point acrossed about people not speaking out.After watching the YouTube clip under these paragraphs, another question of not speaking out came to mind. What if the person in trouble looked like you? If you could relate to the person in trouble would you be more amped to help them. Do people take into consideration were they are when trouble arises, and what the person looks like that is in trouble or asking for help. Can these questions determine the bystander's next move. From a personal standpoint, I can remember as a child walking to the corner store and what I believed was a male prostitute asking me for money. His eyes were all swelled up and I can remember his nose running and him not having a coat on in the middle of winter. I ignored him and went into the store when I came out with my bag of potatoes chips and candy he was still outside begging for money. I have never forgotten that feeling and still look back on that day. If I gave him money, would he have blown it up his nose, or actually used the money for something to eat? A big reason why I kept walking and did not gave him anything was the fact that I was scared and by myself. (Or so I like to tell myself) My parents have always lectured me to mind my own business, not to look or talk to anyone while going to the store, and to come right home. I learned early on, what could happen to people who were vulnerable and not alert. I can completely understand why they drilled this in my head. I did not live in the greatest neighborhood and there where people like the young man at the store walking around every day. I often wonder why examples like the one still bother me today. I think a lot of this has to do with my personality and other situations relatable to this one. This is another reason why people often do not step in fear of something bad happening or not knowing what to do when they step in.
Another incident that happened last April was quite like a story I brought to your attention on my second blog; only this situation caught on tape, happened forty years after the prior one I talked about dealing with a young woman being stabbed and left to die. Here under the link for the step up program that I will talk about in my last blog, you will see a video of a homeless man stepping into help a woman mugged with a knife. The homeless man intervenes becoming the Good Samaritan and is then stabbed several times in the chest as the robber flees; the man lays on the ground dying as over a dozen people pass him by. Why did this happen? Some reasons for not stepping in could deal with the way he looks, the environment, the bystander effect and the diffusion theory. Anyone of those excuses will work for an explanation on why people did not step in. That being said, this sad epidemic still exists providing little good evidence why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac
http://blog.stepupprogram.org/?p=330
Kerrie,
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to that feeling you have about not helping that man, especially when you say "or so I like to tell myself." Living in a city, or a bad neighborhood, you don't know what to do in situations like that. It's really difficult.
That story about the homeless man is heart breaking. I met a man in Central Park one year who lived there, in Strawberry Fields, decorating the Imagine memorial every day. It made me think of him. A lot of homeless people are beautiful people. Sure, some have lost much of what they had to offer the world, but it's unfair to judge them all.
I really enjoyed this blog and I'm excited to hear your talk.
Amanda
Kerrie, i feel the same way when i see homeless people. its just good human compassion you and i share, seeing someone who is struggling to live is a tough thing to cope with when you are "living the good life". i grew up in ocean city, not too many homeless people here, but there is one. Slobber Bob. you can often see bob cruising down the street or the beach just taking in the scenery. I am constantly doing things to help him out, sometimes its annoying, but when you take a moment to look at this little thing your doing and how large it affects those people you forget about the annoyance. When thinking about the larger picture of people helping each other i think people in general are dicks. They don't want to be inconvienenced. It is sad to think that people would just walk past someone in trouble or ignore others crying out for help, but that's the world we live in. Also, this is why i love ocean city, everyone knows everyone and helps each other out. I think for the most part small towns like this are the last places on the world you can see true human compassion.
ReplyDeleteKerrie,
ReplyDeleteI like how you incorporated real situations that have happened to you in your life and how these situations relate to your overall message. I was also brought up to mind my own business. There were exceptions to this rule though. If I noticed someone was in harms way, I would and will try to get them help if I am not able to handle the situation myself. Your TED Talk sounds like it is going to be very insightful.
Robert Gourley.