I’ve known for some time that I’m not the kind of person to take immediate action in an emergency. For example, when I was 21 and saw someone I knew fall from a scaffolding some ten feet in the air, I froze.
Today, I learned that I haven’t changed as much as I’d like to think.
I was on my way in to work this morning — around 7:45am, a little late for me these days, but early compared to the rest of the building. In front of me was a gentleman with crutches. I’ve seen him plenty of times: he’s slow but steady, and he gets where he needs to be on his own.
As I neared the first-floor elevator lobby, I saw him trip and fall.
I froze.
I stared at the soles of his shoes as a fellow co-worker rushed in from my periphery to help. Convinced that he’d be fine, I walked right past him as he lay on the floor and I got into the nearly-full elevator that he had been ambulating toward.
”I’m gonna need some help,” I heard him say. I had thought he’d be OK with just the one man there helping, but I heard him repeat again, “I’m gonna need another person.”
One of the ladies already in the elevator, probably older than my own mother, called out, “Do you need help?”
”Yes,” the fallen man answered, “I’m gonna need another man.”
The woman left the elevator to help, anyway. The doors closed, and the rest of us rode up in silence.
It’s disappointing to note one’s own state of… herd mentality? Cognitive paralysis? I wasn’t the only one who didn’t rush to help, but the rest of them were already in the elevator.
Maybe the discomfort I’m feeling about this situation will help me make a better decision next time something like this comes up. The person I want to be — the person I had hoped I was — would always want to help.