Ponderings of a Faceless Bystander

[forsyth]

The other night when LJ was down, I was driving home from my finals. Coming back from my finals on the highway, they have these light up signs that can be programmed to display different things, like HOV lanes, or alerts, like "Accident at Exit 52, left two lanes closed."

That second isn't an idle example. It was about three miles away, so I moved over to one of the right lanes and kept driving. As I was driving, I noticed a helicopter flying around, which isn't really that unusual. But something, probably the way it was flying, or maybe just the sign, made me think "That looks like a rescue chopper." Not that I could see markings, since it was dark.

But it was. Because when I was less than half a mile from the accident, traffic came to a complete stop. There were at least two fire engines, a bunch of cop cars, and at least one ambulance over on the left shoulder, and the police had stopped traffic so the rescue chopper could land. I was back in the mass of cars, so couldn't actually see anything going on. Which was part of how it was extremely weird. In ways I'm not I like. Here I was, less than half a mile from where at least one person was in desperate need of medical attention, and I was sitting there and...getting bored.

Obviously, there wasn't anything I could do, there were tons of emergency folks there already, people trained to know what to do and with equipment and that sort of thing. And (as far as I know) I didn't know anybody involved, so there wasn't any direct connection, but still. I was sitting there in the car and started to get bored because I was just sitting in the car. Which was really unnerving. I was one of those idiot bystanders you see in superhero comics, annoyed by the hair-raising rescue delaying their commute. But on the plus side, I wasn't as big an asshole as the idiots who decided to pull onto the shoulder to try and drive past to the exit. Seeing them get stuck made me happy, which probably makes me an even worse person.

But, the question is compassion. How far does it extend, even if in theory to everyone, is it really any good when you can't affect the outcome at all except by not getting in the way? What's a bystander supposed to do, while other people are doing all the things that matter?

Comments

[frustratedpilot]

I remember from High School or College Law that legally you aren't obliged to do anything--and in fact could find yourself sued if you become an "interloper" and something goes wrong win the wrong way. (I know that sounds redundant, but you know lawyers?) You're a stranger; if the pros are already on the scene, let them do their jobs in peace. But HELP if they ask you to help.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Not get in the way of the professionals, and calmly accept that there may well be a future time where you are the one on the scene, either as rescuer or rescuee.

Today was not your time. But it's better to have an excess of helpful people sitting idle, than to suddenly need those people and have no-one to answer.

[forsythferret.livejournal.com]

It's not so much the "couldn't help" part, it was the "Wait, I'm getting bored waiting in traffic here while people might be dying" part that disturbed me.