Moral Check-In

Last week, press and bloggers in Israel and internationally were buzzing over the story of a motorcyclist who attempted to pass between a cement truck and moving traffic and was killed when he went under the truck wheels and for very long moments, it appeared no one stopped to help him. He died of his wounds and the incident was captured on a traffic camera.

The uproar has been over the apparent moral decadence of society because people didn't appear to stop & help. Drivers swerved around the victim. He lay there on the pavement and NO ONE STOPPED!

However... when cousins were visiting this weekend we debated the issue and my cousin Doron brought up several very salient points:

1) At the moment of the incident, people were stunned and pulled over out of "eyeshot" of the camera and then ran back to help the man. That takes a minute in traffic.

2) NOT EVERYONE is meant to get out and help. He illustrated by asking us all: You know (nameless person we all know)...Can you imagine her being able to get out of the car and administer 1st aid? Come on! She would need 1st Aid. He has a point. Not everyone can handle an emergency...

3) And that leads to the point of the function of those who don't function well in emergencies. They did what they could by calling the Israel equivalent of 9-1-1. I would be interested in knowing how many calls came in to 101 about the man during that scene.

It's horrendous. No doubt. The video is here. I'd rather not post it out of respect for the victim.