Helping Strangers in Need Issue 14 Home Page

People feel a responsibility to help others in distress. They have the feeling that it's the right thing to do. They emphasize with the victim, thinking "If I were in danger, I'd want someone to help me." Yet, in an actual emergency situation, many people are likely to just stand around. Maybe they don't want to get involved; maybe they just don't know what to do. Maybe they are just waiting for someone else to step in. Halida Brett didn't wait. Without thinking twice, she jumped in to help a man suffering an epileptic attack. Photo: Sandy Peters "When do we step in and help? Is it when we are the ones that are affected?" When Do We Step In and Help? Halida Brett from Venezuela If something bad happened to me in the middle of the street among lots of strangers, I'd like somebody to help me; at least, I hope there would be somebody who would look for help if he or she could not by him- or herself. Once I was leaving a supermarket just at the same time that a really big man around 45 years old fell down on the ground, suffering from an epileptic attack. I don't know exactly what I was thinking about, but I suddenly realized that I was holding his head in my lap. I did it without even thinking since he I saw he was knocking his head against the ground. I took my sweater off, and I twisted it until I made a little roll to put between his teeth. At the time, that's all I knew about treating someone in such situations. By the way, I saw a large number of curious people standing around us. Actually, most of them were staring at us as if we were part of an interesting movie scene. Nobody said a word until the police officers arrived. although some of them were older than me, I realized that they didn't feel competent or qualified enough to help him. In fact, now I believe that they were afraid of that man. However, what would happen if nobody helped others in these kinds of situations? Are we more or less important than that man? When do we step in and help? Is it when we are the ones affected? That man could have even died. I cannot say that I'm a hero. More on helping strangers: Would I Intervene? | Helping a Lost Child My Father's Story | It Was Worth Taking the Risk Return to: Helping Strangers in Need | Issue 14 | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine - ©1997-2008 - Sandy and Thomas Peters - topics.mag@gmail.com