Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Sipping a Big Gulp while fellow patron dies

warrrreagl · 07-05-2007, 06:06 AM

When Grancey first showed this to me I assumed (as Bacchanal confirmed) that it was a seedy part of town. And sadly, to me that in itself connotes several things. First, what do you expect from people like that? I hate to admit that was my gut reaction, but it's true. I can't help it, but I'm an adult human with pre-conceived notions about certain aspects of human behavior. Certain geographical locations within our society seem to invoke reactions of raw survival rather than altruism, and I'll bet that if this had happened in another part of town then there would have been a much different reaction from the store patrons.

Secondly, what if they didn't witness the crime and they didn't see any blood oozing out onto the floor? Then she would have seemed like any other drunk or drug addict that people in those areas probably encounter every day and have learned how to ignore. How many times have you encountered a staggering person and immediately dialed 911? And how many times did you just avoid eye-contact and go the other way? But ... if they saw blood, then that's a different story.

Thirdly, people in certain areas of towns are raised to believe that you never snitch no matter what and you don't get involved no matter what. It's a matter of sheer survival to them. Ignoring suspicious things is how you get by.

I think this story is every bit as much a commentary on how suspicious we've all become of people in distress. There are too many horror stories out there about folks getting blindsided when they tried to help others that seemed to be in need and the whole thing was just a trap. What would I have done? I hate to admit it, but unless I saw blood I probably would have avoided looking at her and tried to avoid it. And then when I got back to the car and told Grancey, she would have made me call 911 to help.

In fact, just a couple of weeks ago we were driving around in a "good" part of town and we saw a guy jogging that didn't seem to belong. He looked very gangsta and very threatening and I pointed him out as if to say, "What's he doing in this neighborhood?" What Grancey noticed was that he had stopped running and was doubled over. She made me U-turn immediately and go back to see if he needed help or needed us to call 911. By the time we got back, he was upright and jogging again, so we didn't interfere. But there, in a nutshell, is two different reactions to the same sitiuation by two people who have been together for 22 years.

07-05-2007, 06:06 AM	#12 (permalink)
warrrreagl pinche vato Location: backwater, Third World, land of cotton	When Grancey first showed this to me I assumed (as Bacchanal confirmed) that it was a seedy part of town. And sadly, to me that in itself connotes several things. First, what do you expect from people like that? I hate to admit that was my gut reaction, but it's true. I can't help it, but I'm an adult human with pre-conceived notions about certain aspects of human behavior. Certain geographical locations within our society seem to invoke reactions of raw survival rather than altruism, and I'll bet that if this had happened in another part of town then there would have been a much different reaction from the store patrons. Secondly, what if they didn't witness the crime and they didn't see any blood oozing out onto the floor? Then she would have seemed like any other drunk or drug addict that people in those areas probably encounter every day and have learned how to ignore. How many times have you encountered a staggering person and immediately dialed 911? And how many times did you just avoid eye-contact and go the other way? But ... if they saw blood, then that's a different story. Thirdly, people in certain areas of towns are raised to believe that you never snitch no matter what and you don't get involved no matter what. It's a matter of sheer survival to them. Ignoring suspicious things is how you get by. I think this story is every bit as much a commentary on how suspicious we've all become of people in distress. There are too many horror stories out there about folks getting blindsided when they tried to help others that seemed to be in need and the whole thing was just a trap. What would I have done? I hate to admit it, but unless I saw blood I probably would have avoided looking at her and tried to avoid it. And then when I got back to the car and told Grancey, she would have made me call 911 to help. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago we were driving around in a "good" part of town and we saw a guy jogging that didn't seem to belong. He looked very gangsta and very threatening and I pointed him out as if to say, "What's he doing in this neighborhood?" What Grancey noticed was that he had stopped running and was doubled over. She made me U-turn immediately and go back to see if he needed help or needed us to call 911. By the time we got back, he was upright and jogging again, so we didn't interfere. But there, in a nutshell, is two different reactions to the same sitiuation by two people who have been together for 22 years. __________________ Living is easy with eyes closed.