Very, very sad

Original story here.

In NYC recently, a man lay on the sidewalk, fairly common. He was homeless, also pretty common. The strange thing was the man was bleeding because he had been stabbed, a little less common but still not outlandish by NYC standards. As the story goes, surveilence shows that for hours numerous people walked past this man but never did anything about it. In the end, when someone finally feels the need to call the cops to let them know about it, homeless man dies.

The saddest things about this are twofold. One: after viewing a lot of video, the authorities figured out that the reason the homeless man was stabbed was because he was helping a woman who was under attack. Had he not stepped in, I assume the woman would have been stabbed instead. He chases the criminal until colapsing on the street, where he will eventually meet his death.

Two: This just proves how, more and more, we as a society are so wrapped up in our own lives that we really don't care about others. Or maybe it's not "I don't care" but more "I don't have the time," you make the call. Now, I realize that a huge factor in no one helping this man was that he probably looked, well, homeless. That right there proves how judgmental we are most times, which is a whole other discussion. Homeless people in this country are lower on the food chain than homeless pets; most people will care way more about a cat on the street than a human being. That being said, sometimes it is their (homeless) own fault that they get such a bad rep. However, the man was still a human being and there is nothing saying you have to touch the man and physically help him. Just call 911, that's all. But no, we can't do that for another individual. This is truly a modern day incidence of The Good Samaritan. I would like to hope that I would not have been one of those who would have walked by, looked at him, and decided it was none of my concern and too much of a hassle to notify anyone.

What's even sadder is that this man was a decent enough guy due to the whole reason he was stabbed in the first place: he was helping a woman being attacked. It's really sad that, after doing this good deed, he had to lose his life because no one else would return the favor.