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Raining_again

Would you help a stranger?

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Inspired from the TV program that is on C4 at the moment.

 

My uncle actually collapsed about 6 months ago in the middle of a busy Birmingham street. One of those freak incidences where you heart stops, or something to that degree.

 

A completely random person stopped to help him and kept his heart going until the paramedics came to take him to hospital. Without it he would have at best been severely handicapped. Probably dead. Yay for nice strangers! :grin:

 

So would you help someone you didn't know?

 

Personally I think its a tough one, on one hand someone needs help, but then on the other you could get yourself caught in the crossfire.. I think might depend on the situation for me!

 

Go!

Edited by Raining_again

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It all depends on the situation, but I want to believe that I would help somebody in need if I could. I've seen some of those shows on TV where they test humans. This test involved two actors, both standing in a crowded area like a train station. One of them pretended to have a heart attack, while the other deliberately did nothing. Very few people stopped to help the "poor" man because someone was already there doing nothing.

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Something like that I'd like to think that I'd definitely help for sure. But I don't know it all depends on the spur of the moment.

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Depends on my general mood at the time. I have helped strangers in the past (one that springs to mind is some elderly man in one of those pimped out hyper buggy/wheelchair things couldn't get up a curb so he stepped out and I lifted the machine onto the pavement).

 

But yeah, if it was a 'small' thing like that it would depend how I was feeling. If I was in a misanthropic mood probably not.

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It's great that someone waited, Raining. :)

 

You're right in saying that it probably would depend on the situation. I remember this one time I was walking home from work (about 9 months ago, actually) and I saw this car drive stop next to this bus stop across the road. The car stopped, and they left a man on the pavement! To get to the other side of the road was treacherous, as it a road leading up to a small dual carriageway and roundabout, so it was a very busy road. You can't walk across it, so you have to use the footbridge. So, made my way over there, and he was just...so drunk, he was in a pretty bad state. In the end, he sat down and the bus came along only moments later, so all was fine in the end.

 

But, jesus, that's one situation that could have been a million times worse. Also, thinking about it, what if he had been stabbed or something?

 

Thinking about it further, what if there's situations like this happening all the time, and you might not notice because you're looking the other way or something. If I hadn't been looking across the road (something I tend to do when I walk. I walk with my head all over the place) I probably wouldn't have seen him.

 

That's kinda a long post, but I wanted to tell it fully otherwise it would've been a bit shit otherwise.

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I might. I just took a first aid course, so I would be able to. I'm just not sure I would though.

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The public can be a bunch of tossers. In a restaurant in Crete a few years ago, my dad ended up choking on a piece of steak. Pretty scary thing to happen anyway, but the thing was that no one made an effort to get up, help or anything. I ended up saving the day. ;)

 

A woman came up to the table afterwards and said she was 'about to go do something', and chuckled. Turns out she knew the Heimlich. Why did you sit there like a bloody vegetable then? Bitch.

 

I choose my moments to help people. If someone drops a bag or change, and I help them pick it up, the first thing that crosses their mind is that I'm trying to mug them. If I saw an incident like your uncle's, Raining, I'd definitely help in whatever way I could.

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i have a couple of stories involving me helping, and a couple where i didnt.

 

found a phone in college, knew a dondgy guy who wanted to sell it, i phoned the home humber instead, told the owners mum i was leaving it witha member of staff, she was looking for me for ages, eventualy got a card to me that had £5 inside. glad i helped.

 

saw a bundle of rags in the street one day, turned out to be a passed out tramp. i tried to wake him, he was having none of it, a woman came over, and helped, he woke up and was stumbeling around, verrrrry drunk. she phoned an ambulance, i waited with her cos she was clearly afraid of him. ambulance said "nah, let the police handle this one" so i sorta got a drunk tramp arrested. not sure if that was good or bad.

 

 

 

now my worset hour. i was heading to the gym when i saw an old man lying on a bench, possibly dead. lots of outher people around, no one wanted to act, i decided to tell the gym staff (it was on their grounds) but as i was walking I saw an ambulance pull up next to him, so didnt do anything. felt kinda bad i didnt help.

 

 

yesterday i was in a frioends car and saw a kid lying on the ground outside a school, coat as a pillow. we were like "wtf?" but my mate didn't pull over, loads of people walked past so i'm guessing he was showing signs of life but still, it was like 6.30 pm, wtf was going on?

 

 

so in conclusion, id like to think i'd help, but in reality, i might not.

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Depends if i was in a rush or not.

 

I have helped strangers lots of times be it if they fell over, needed help with shopping and so on.

 

Medical wise, i haven't helped anyone who wasn't drunk as such.

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Depends on the situation. If I can help, I usually do. I'm useless with people tripping up in front of me though. I feel like a total bell end standing there asking "are you alright?", then wondering what the hell to do. Normally I slow my pace to check they're ok, then wander off.

 

To stop myself looking like a total knob, I'd like to point out that Happenstance and I helped a woman push her car out of the road when it broke down in the rain once.

 

Also had a similar experience with a mobile phone. It was pretty fancy for the time. I looked through the phone for family members and rang one up. Bloke came out and picked up the phone. No reward. Bastard.

 

 

 

And on the other side of the fence, I once broke down outside a classic car show I had just attended. Wanged the bonnet up, had a look, discovered I was in fact useless at repairing cars, called the AA and waited. Countless classic car owners drove past and didn't stop. I thought that they would have had more sympathy, being owners of old, slightly unreliable cars. But no. You know who the only 2 people to stop were? "Chavs", one of which had just finished a shift at Halfords and probably wanted nothing more than to rush home.

 

Just goes to show you, it's surprising who actually helps and who just walks on by. I can't think of another time a stranger has helped me to be honest. People are arseholes I guess.

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If I seen someone that needed my help, I'd help in a heartbeat, no questions asked.

 

As I'd want someone to do the same for me if the shoe was on the other foot.

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There was this woman the other day who was on the floor with all her shopping bags split and her stuff all over the pavement.

 

Almost felt bad for pushing her over to be honest.

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If it's something I can help with I will usually try to do so. Haven't really been in these sort of situations yet though. Usually just helping people lifting their stuff on the bus or something or holding open a door.

 

Though yeah, people don't always help. Years ago on a cold winter morning, my sister and I both made a fall with our bicycles, falling in the middle of the road. We had to go past two pedestrians who were taking up the bicycle path/sidewalk (both cyclists and pedestrians have to use it), and the gutter was super slippery so we both fell when we went past them and tried to go back on the sidewalk. We were kinda lucky there was no car behind us or they wouldn't have been able to stop... But yeah, the two guys just kept walking past us, didn't even look or ask to check if we were okay. We ended up with bruises and two broken bicycles. =(

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I remember that I did actually help a woman once. I was in the video game section of a store, just browsing around, when I saw this woman about to buy an expansion pack for The Sims. Having experienced myself the disappointment that is receiving an expansion pack mistaken for the real game, I politely asked her if her son (whom, I had gathered, she was buying the game for) owned a version of the game already. When she said no, I explained the situation. She gave me what equals about £2. I felt good having helped her, even though it was just something small and petty.

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Unfortunately, the only strangers who ever ask me for help are losers that are trying to con me out of money. I'd help if somebody really needed it.

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I just decided to try and check this out on catchup, a mate of mine said he'd seen it the other night and thought I'd relate. For anyone who didn't see it, you should really watch it, here's a linky;

 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/would-you-save-a-stranger/catch-up#2871668

 

As for me, if I can help then I hope I always will. Too many people say they will, and it's amazing how many people don't(as evidenced by some of the stories in that programme), it's disgusting how people can see bad stuff happening and just walk on by and let it happen.

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Yeah it was a decent watching.. I was awfully sad about the story of the guy that got knifed trying to save some kids from being mugged.. Takes a brave person to stick themselves in the middle of that and intervene...

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Horror movies have had an effect on me. If I was driving past a guy on the side of the road and he needed help with his car/a lift...I probably wouldn't stop because horror films have taught me that these men are always serial killers.

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Yeah it was a decent watching.. I was awfully sad about the story of the guy that got knifed trying to save some kids from being mugged.. Takes a brave person to stick themselves in the middle of that and intervene...

 

The whole thing made me rather sad, it's like they said in it, it just shows a...total lack of humanity, really. I think the stories about the kids on the buses were the worst, to have it happen to you so young(I've seen rather a similar situation myself). I know things like hearing about that guy might put someone off, but that's exactly the problem, people are too scared to do anything these days. I do believe someone on here got knifed intervening in something once, yet they said they'd do it again too, and I think that's a brilliant attitude to have(as silly as it sounds).

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The whole thing made me rather sad, it's like they said in it, it just shows a...total lack of humanity, really. I think the stories about the kids on the buses were the worst, to have it happen to you so young(I've seen rather a similar situation myself). I know things like hearing about that guy might put someone off, but that's exactly the problem, people are too scared to do anything these days. I do believe someone on here got knifed intervening in something once, yet they said they'd do it again too, and I think that's a brilliant attitude to have(as silly as it sounds).

 

If only I was as fearless..

 

Yeah..thats right.. the mugging on the bus, the girly being beaten was screaming for help and someone just shushed her. Wow...sympathy much. >_<

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I would, unless they seemed crazy. I don't like crazy people, they make me uneasy. I dont know how to explain, but picture crazy cat lady from the Simpsons and you'll get the type of people i wouldnt help.

 

Last good thing i did was help an old lady with her heavy bags when she was getting off the train. That was a month back now though, i havnt done anything since =/

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I've seen something where they got a child actor to stand in the middle of a shopping centre (obviously they kept an eye on him) and act as if he was lost (crying, asking for him mummy). He was there for around 30 minutes. The people who organised it asked some people about it - it seems that most people were afraid to help out in case someone took it the wrong way.

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Just watched the first 5 minutes of that program. Does anyone else think that the witnesses seem a little fake? Something just doesn't feel right about them. It's almost like they're the sort of bad actors you get on a crappy documentary for schools.

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Just watched the first 5 minutes of that program. Does anyone else think that the witnesses seem a little fake? Something just doesn't feel right about them. It's almost like they're the sort of bad actors you get on a crappy documentary for schools.

 

Haha nah, that first girl who was telling her story about the kid on the bus well seemed like it at first. I'm hoping the others weren't(I'd presume not for two who were victims, rather nasty looking pictures of some of them). The point is there anyway, surely? People actually do just act like that, standing by and not doing anything. It's amazing how many people say they would do something though.

 

As for the thing with a kid in a shopping centre, that's just the problem, it's sad that people are too scared to do anything cos of how it might look, and the fact it MIGHT look like that to alot of people is just as bad! However, saving a kid being beaten down harsh on a bus, I should have thought it was an obvious choice.

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