June 06, 2008
Faith in Humanity Is Hard to Maintain...
...when I see something like this story from Hartford, which first made the news yesterday:
A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.
The link includes a video. If you watch it, be warned: you will actually see 78-year-old Arce Torres get slammed by a car and flop back down on the street.
What's worse than that, however, is witnessing the witnesses simply ignore him and go about their daily business. No one paid attention until the police showed up, and then the usual crowd of gawkers gathered. As my friend Jeanette asked, "WTF is wrong with people?"
What's wrong indeed? I felt a chill go through me when I watched that video. This episode brings to mind the infamous case of Kitty Genovese who, back in 1964, was stabbed to death near her Queens apartment building and none of the neighbors who heard her cries for help could bestir themselves to do much about it. "Don't get involved," we often think to ourselves - probably in a bid to protect our own hides.
"It was one of the most despicable things I've seen by one human being to another," the Rev. Henry Brown, a community activist, said in an interview. "I don't understand the mind-set anymore. It's kind of mind-boggling. We're supposed to help each other. You see somebody fall, you want to offer a helping hand."
We all hope and pray that should our time of need come, someone will have the decency to step forward and help. No one came to the aid of Arce Torres, now paralyzed and fighting for his life, even though according to this report he was a well-known figure in the neighborhood.
"Everybody knew him, but nobody helped," said Anthony Jenkins, 45, of 87 Park St. "I guess everybody is different. Some people are just out for themselves."
That about sums it up.
Keep Arce Torres in your prayers. He's going to need them.
Show Comments »
I was shocked when I read this story in the paper. I did hear, however, that several people phoned 911 within minutes of the accident. It still doesn't excuse people's unwillingness to help in person. But I'd wager one cause could be that people are afraid to get involved for fear of being held legally responsible in our highly litigious society. More likely, however, is our society's increasing laziness and lack of common decency. Either way, we're a poorer people for it.
Posted by: Reverse_Vampyr at June 6, 2008 03:35 PMI've been a police officer for 14 years and that video creeped me out. And you hit it on the head: the despicable part is the onlookers who just walked away.
This is what America has come to.
Posted by: Wyatt Earp at June 8, 2008 06:04 PM
