Posts Tagged ‘letter’

This morning, an anonymous letter from a cyclist who took a nasty spill is making the rounds in Toronto media.

The letter is directed to a jogger, who, according to the cyclist, literally steeped over him/her to continue jogging, instead of asking if assistance was needed or if they were alright.

My first thought was “how terrible!”

I mean, how could someone – literally – walk OVER someone injured instead of seeing if they need a hand?

Apparently, many Torontonians – or, at least, National Post commentators – don’t agree with me, as many think the letter is “whiny”, accuses the cyclist of riding in a prohibited area or cutting the jogger off, and telling the “limping cyclist” to toughen up.

Okay, maybe the fall wasn’t major, maybe the jogger was “in the zone”, but really – is that any excuse for not asking if the biker was okay?

I mean, when I see someone fall, I help them up or ask if they need assistance.

Recently, I actually went OUTSIDE MY HOUSE when I heard someone yelling – a teen had taken a spill off his bike, was in pain, and his younger brother was yelling and crying. If I can leave my house to see if someone needs help, is it really too much to ask someone to stop for a minute?

Apparently so.

Here’s another story: I tripped in the mall a few years back, on the steps near an exit and busted up my knee really good. The edge of the stair went straight in between my kneecap and leg bone, there was a crunching noise, and it took me a good few seconds to get up after being stunned and shouting “OW!”

TONS of people were around.

Most kept walking, looked the other way, or ignored me all together. A group of teenagers – probably about 17 or 18, so not much older than I was at the time (21) LAUGHED at me instead of offering to help. I limped out in pain and tears – people looked, but there was still no offer for help.

My fall was so bad I went to get my knee x-rayed at the hospital, ended up on crutches for 3 weeks, had an MRI later, and was in physiotherapy for one and a half years. Thankfully, although my knee is still weaker than my other one, it’s mostly healed (except when it’s humid it acts up) and I was lucky enough not to break anything or do any serious cartilage damage.

This avoidance-of-helping isn’t a new phenomenon, either. Too many people “don’t want to get involved” in various situations. In 1964, Kitty Genovese was famously stabbed to death on the street in NYC. 38 people witnessed or heard the struggle, yet no one did anything. Everyone assumed someone else would do it.

Now, while I am not necessary saying you should get directly involved in something so violent – would it kill you to call the police? To throw something from your window down that way, to try and scare the perp?

Unlikely.

And, by that same token – would it kill you to ask someone who’s fallen off a bike, tripped in the mall, if they need help?

I doubt it.

So why don’t we do those things? Why do we look the other way, ignore the situation, or think “someone else will pull over, someone else will call 911″.

I honestly think it’s a big city syndrome. I once pulled over in Timmins, on the side of the country highway, to take a picture of a pretty double rainbow spanning the forest. Within minutes, a car stopped to ask if I needed help. Five minutes later, a second stopped.

I tripped downtown once in Timmins too – didn’t even fall, simply  lost my balance, but caught myself in time. A man standing near by smoking asked if I was okay, and when I said I was, said “You have to be careful on these bricks, they can be loose!”

Yet, in places like Toronto, in New York – it seems people can’t be bothered to stop and help.

Next time you see someone fall, drop something, or do something that otherwise catches your attention – I challenge you to actually stop and do something about it.

If we all paid a little more attention – and were a little nicer to each other – I think Toronto would be a much more pleasant place to live… as opposed to so cold.

And I don’t mean “cold” in a winter snow kind of way.