Tales from the Trenches: Different places, similar circumstances.

Last Wednesday, I had to run to DSW to return the pair of Keen Mary Jane's I bought.  Sadly, they were ill fitting and just had to go back.  It was the last day for me to be able to return them for a refund, so I had to scoot-a-loot. 

I cleared the last major intersection, was looking to see which drive I needed to enter to go to the store and I heard a crash.  That crash was right next to me.  I had to tromp on the gas to avoid being hit by flying debris.  I cleared the accident scene, looked in my rear view mirror to see if people had stopped and whatnot and they hadn't.  It was at this point that I turned the RAV around in the middle of the road, blocked off the two turn lanes (the accident had moved to take up both lanes) and flipped my hazards on.  I made sure to pad the accident scene by about 10-15 feet and I went to check on those involved. 

I'm glad to say that while it took me a minute or two to snap the one woman out of the shaking shock thing she was in, I got everyone moving from their vehicles (all were fine) and off to the gas station to sit on a curb while we awaited emergency services to arrive.  One of the Office Max employees came out to join me in my efforts in calming people down, evaluating injuries (we may have had a tweaked wrist, but nothing else.)  While we were doing a body part inventory, people started moving left of center around the accident, while going towards a major intersection while going the complete wrong way.  "Someone needs to direct traffic," says Office Max girl.  I put my traffic directing hat on and moved out to do that.  Thankfully, that was my task for a few moments before the police arrived.  I told him, "You do this so much better than me!"  He laughed.  I informed him that I couldn't provide a witness statement, as I didn't see the accident happen, just while things were in progress.  Since the vehicles were still where they were left to rest, it was pretty clear who did what. 

I left there surprised that no one stopped.  Not everyone is able bodied.  Not everyone is that person.  I get that.  Some people will have kids, places to go . . . but no one stopped but me.  I'm not saying that as a pat on my own back.  I don't mean that at all.  Office Max lady came out, but there were folks who drove through and by the accident as it happened.  Personally, I couldn't leave without knowing that the people were okay. 

Then comes to my mind the accident that K- and I were in.  In contrast to the story above where it was a high-end, busy shopping area, our accident occurred in a low-middle to lower income, mostly residential/county park area.  People stopped.  People came out of their houses.  The park was first on the scene.  It ended up being a previous co-worker of Hubs, so he scooped me up and plunked me into his truck.  People were genuinely concerned about us, particularly when they saw me scoop my then 4 year old out of the back seat, and one couple offered up their deck lid for me to give K- a more complete check. 

We felt loved. 

Is the public reaction that I encountered between the two stories purely because of location, or has the public turned so callous that they don't have the time to check in on their fellow man? 

Thoughts?  As always, honesty and polite debate always welcome. 

Smiles in my day:
-  K- and Hubs visited "the beach."  Now, we are in Ohio and beach options are very limited.  They went to Mentor Headlands, hiked the rocks to the lighthouse, played in the sand and flopped around in the water.  They had a grand time.
-  While sitting on the porch this evening as K- and E- rode around on their scooters, I watched a Cooper's Hawk fly down and pounce on a bird.  Their was an explosion of feathers, a talon massage of sorts, then up, up and away the hawk went with dinner.  It was wonderful to watch! Nature is truly fascinating.

Have a great day!