What Would You Do?

Every once in a while, we have moments in our lives where we say "a ha". Where the light goes off - where there's a realization of something that we previously were not aware of. Sometimes big, sometimes small, sometimes it is work related, sometimes it relates to something else...

I had one of those moments tonight. And it came from watching an ABC News presentation called "What Would You Do?".

The concept was simple - hide a bunch of cameras, hire actors to stage scenarios that challenge society's moral and ethical sensibilities, then see what happens.

All of them were poignant, with examples of how uncaring or outright deplorable we are all capable of behaving... but also shining examples of goodness that could move even the most cynical. And one stuck out in particular.

The stage was set by having a well-dressed woman walking along the street suddenly collapse - it took all of about 4 seconds before someone went to see if she was okay, and then call 911. Beautiful, right? Well, then they replaced the well-dressed woman with a homeless man - after his collapse, it took anywhere from 3-4 minutes before anyone stopped, with some people actually stepping over him. Then, to really challenge our sense of moral obligation - they had him holding a beer can when he collapsed... suddenly, everyone had a reason, a justification for ignoring him. Know how many people went past without stopping? Eighty-eight. Eighty-eight individuals veered around a person lying in the middle of the sidewalk without taking a second to see if he was alright.

And then one person, walking with a limp and a cane who, apparently, is sometimes homeless herself, paused. She stopped, asked him if he was okay - and when he did not answer, she started asking people who walked by if they would call an ambulance.

Twenty-six more people walked by, now not only ignoring the man in the street, but ignoring another person actually asking for their help. And twenty-six more went by before one person finally stopped.

It was heartbreaking. And this was my "a ha" moment.

What would you do?

~Guy