So, chances are that you’ve heard about this.

Naturally, with a story like this one, there’s a great deal of material for one to discuss. I could rant about the lack of security that SEPTA provides. I could speculate on just why exactly a man would feel the need to randomly attack another passenger with a hammer.

In the end though, what I found most interesting about this story is the question as to whether or not the other members of the train should have intervened. Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey seems to think so.

They better pray they’re never a victim, because if someone was attacking them that way they would certainly hope someone would step forward and help, and it starts with stepping forward and doing something yourself.

Helping the victim would of course be the courageous and moral thing to do. But is it fair for Ramsey to criticize the other passengers for not doing so?

Place yourself in their shoes for a second. You’re coming home from work, exhausted, and certainly in no mood to go toe to toe with a hammer-wielding psycho. All of a sudden you see a man randomly attack another. You don’t know if he’s packing heat in possession of a firearm and unless you’re this man, I’m assuming that you’re incapable of taking him out with a swift roundhouse kick to the face.

With these factors in mind, do you still put yourself in physical harm for a complete stranger by intervening? Or do you do the far more cowardly but more human thing and get the hell out of there? Or perhaps you are indeed a brave soul with adequate roundhouse kicking skills but ultimately fall prey to a certain psychological phenomenon.

In the end, while I can’t speak for all of you I can shamefully but honestly admit that if I were in the same situation, more than likely I would’ve done the same thing as the passengers. I suppose that makes me a bad person.

But even if I were a good person and tried to help, the poor guy still would’ve been screwed. After all, who wants help from a scrawny dude who hasn’t been in a fight since a gallon of gas went for a buck?

This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.