Definitely a WTF?!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110601/ts_yblog_thelookout/handcuffed-by-policy-fire-and-police-crews-watch-man-drown

Okay it's a long header, but connect and read the story. It will tell you how dozens of people, including emergency responders and firemen stood idly by while watching a man commit suicide by drowning. That's right, they just let him die without even attempting to help him? The reason? None of them were trained in water rescue efforts and were simply following policy to prevent any possible legal actions that might ensue. That's right, a man died (albeit at his own hands) and people just watched out of fear of getting in trouble.

My mind simply boggles at the idea of people, especially ones that are trained to do this sort of thing, not doing anything to help someone. Even if you somehow excuse the EMT/Firemen/Rescue Workers, what about all the other bystanders who weren't under policy restraints. It wasn't like the man was floundering in dangerous and deep waters. He was wading out from shore and even occasionally looking back. (As a side note here: Generally people who truly want to die don't do it in such a public location or look back at their audience while they are dying.) Someone or someones could have easily waded out after him and dragged him back to the shore. So why didn't they?

Have we really become so uncaring as a culture that we would be willing to let someone suffer or die simply because we are afraid we might get in some sort of trouble? Back in the early 80s, one university conducted a study where a small child was placed on a street corner in a major city. The girl, who was a talented young actress, was told to stand there crying and asking for help from people passing bye. During the day long experiment, not a single person stopped and tried to help this "child in distress." When questioned about it, some people simply said that they didn't want to get involved. I guess this new event, which was not staged, proves that such an attitude still exists.

I'm no hero. Even if I didn't need them, I'd probably still wear glasses to keep people from hitting me. I am not just a card carrying member of COWARDS ANONYMOUS, I am it's founder. Still, I am damned sure that if I saw a man, woman, child or other drowning not more than a few yards away from me, I would do everything in my power to help them. Letting someone die because you are unwilling to get involved should never happen.