Help others even when you don't have to

This week I got a bit of a lesson in human insensitivity, or maybe one in our unique ability to turn the appalling into the mundane if exposed to it often enough.

While driving to work the other day, I noticed an elderly woman in a wheelchair struggling to get onto the curb about two blocks ahead. She would back up, try to gain traction and wheel forward with all her might, only to get caught on the giant berms of plowed snow packed rock-solid into ice overnight. Back and forth she went, wheeling out onto the busy road by necessity and clearly unable to access the sidewalk despite her best efforts.

But that wasn’t what made me absolutely sick to my stomach. What did is that the cars on that particular road weren’t slowing down. There weren’t Good Samaritans queuing up to offer assistance or pull over to help despite ample room to do so. No, instead the drivers of car after car noticed a person in distress — and deliberately drove around her.

I had time to drive up the block to where this was happening, pull over into a nearby parking lot, get out and walk 50 feet and still, no one had reached out. No one stopped, no one got out of their car. No one even rolled down their window.

After helping her across the road to a clearer street and the bus stop she was seeking, I remained flabbergasted that so many could watch another person struggle and do nothing. I sincerely doubt that the 50 or more cars that passed all had drivers so busy, so important, that they couldn’t possibly spare four minutes of their time to help an old woman cross the road.

I hope the general public’s reaction had nothing to do with the proximity of a local homeless shelter. I hope so. But I doubt it.

In today’s world, we are bombarded by a cacophony of tragedy on a daily basis. On TV there are cable news channels devoted to 24-hour war porn and commercials depicting emaciated animals. In daily life, good people die from incurable diseases and families struggle to make ends meet.

All this can inure us to suffering and desensitize us to the pain of others. It can make us feel like more trouble and heartache exists in the world than could ever be addressed, so why bother trying?

We have to keep trying.

The small, easy things we do often have the most impact. I still remember the people who helped find our rescue dog when he ran away, and I’m thankful for them every day. I remember the woman who called my mom when I got lost when I was seven. I remember the gentleman who dug my vehicle out of a snowdrift late at night last week — thanks, Boris.

We’ve all encountered these people over the course of our lives, and it’s important to be that person to someone else. Giving others the slightest assistance is not praiseworthy, not by a long shot. It’s basic human decency. It’s following “the golden rule” we try so hard to instill in kindergarteners: Treat others as you would want to be treated. If adults can’t be trusted to follow that adage, how can we expect it from our schoolchildren?

There are so many ways to make a small, simple difference. Help someone in a bind. Dig your neighbor out of the snow. Try to catch the scared, lost dog on your street. Do something. Do anything. Just don’t wait and hope someone else will step up and do the right thing.

Be the person doing it.

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].