The Life You Can Save, Katherine Chong

If you see someone in dire need of help right before you, will you rush over? Probably. But what if you are standing a few hundred paces away, on the next street over, or even a short drive away?What if you are in a different neighborhood, different city, or different continent? At what point and in what circumstances does it become“our problem,” and action a responsibility? For us to even recognize these calls for help, they have to fulfill a series of conditions: they must be visible, proximate, and evoke our empathy. Even as circumstances play out, we still might waive away the guilt and go on with our daily lives. What will we tell ourselves, then? That there’s always someone else who will step up, and that it doesn’t have to be you? What will happen if we all arrive at this same verdict?