Being A Good Samaritan

Being a Good Samaritan; What it Takes
In moments of everyday life, people have to face decisions where the choices they make represents the person they are. This is where you must morally judge the situation. Through various texts I have seen how people of diverse backgrounds respond to these different conflicts. Bryona Golding tells us in “Intro to Bystander Apathy” that in the face of adversity, people immediately turn to others and expect them to step up when in reality they are thinking the same idea. When the responsibility is in another’s hands, other people don’t seem to have a problem hurting one another, as in “Perils of Obedience.” The obvious thing a person would do when another is in need would be to help, but that is not always

Bryona Golding displays this by explaining an event where 12 witnesses see that there are two men in a car, unconscious, and in obvious need for help. Everybody looks to one another thinking they will be the one to step up. The more people surrounding you in these events creates a “diffusion of responsibility,” where you look to others to help assuming they will get it done, which results in no one assisting those in need of aid. We must conquer this state by not going into that “panic-mode,” that forces us to make a poor decision. A psychological phenom similar to bystander apathy is social loafing. It’s described as when the number of people in a group grows, people decrease their amount of exerted effort and personal accountability. The same factors in both phenoms determine the actions of the people involved. This supports the fact that diffusion of responsibility in a group setting isn’t limited to emergency situations. Elie Wiesel says, “What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.” By being a bystander we only “encourage the tormentor.” Overcoming bystander apathy will drive you to be an upstander and you’ll be much quicker to react, respond, and help. Tara McCartney experienced this first-hand and is a wonderful example. While on a double-decker bus, a man was stabbed and as the victim walked slowly with blood all

By understanding bystander apathy you have a better idea of how to overcame that state of shock and act much quicker. Furthermore, once we all buy in to helping those who are suffering, we can make the world a safer and happier place. Although you may look at yourself before thinking about others, it is most important to see their perspective and take responsibility and respond in the right way. Once we start trying to be the example and step up, more and more people will start to be unselfish when it comes to others in