What Would You Do?

I recently watched a special on ABC called, "What Would You Do?" This program was focused on sometimes awkward public situations and peoples reactions. The first part of the program was asking what would you do if there was a child standing alone on a busy street, with no obvious parents or guardians near, looking lost. At first glance i was shocked by the findings, but upon further contemplation, i found myself realizing how much truth there was in the experiment's results.

The findings from the experiment showed that most people would walk right by the child. When a passerby was asked why the walked past the child they replied, "I thought the parent was probably close." This makes sense, but i was still surprised that so few people stopped to help the 7-8 year-old children. It got even more unbelievable when the child began crying and asking people for help, yet many still walked right by. During a commercial break, i tried to convince myself that i would be above that kind of thing, and OF COURSE i would stop to help the poor lost child. Then, i began to catch myself in the lie. I really don't think i would stop. But why? What would make me, as well as so many other people keep walking?

The first thought that comes to mind is the desire to avoid a potentially awkward situation. For instance, what if i did stop to help the child, and the parent came up and accused me of trying to do something bad, or what if they got mad? Then i would feel ashamed, as if i did something wrong, and i will go to great measures to avoid that from happening. Another possibility is that i convince myself that the parent/guardian really is near by, and the likelihood of anything bad happening to the child in those few minutes they are alone is slim to none. These are the kind of thoughts that would cross my mind. I don't think that makes me a bad or irresponsible person, but next time i see a child alone on a street, i might take a few extra seconds to think about the implications of my actions. Maybe, just maybe, i wont keep on walking next time.