I am standing by the road outside Office waiting for an Auto. I hear the sharp crack of metal on plastic, that announces the accident. I turn my head in time to see a bike with its rider fighting for control. Some debris of the bike seems to be flying toward me. I manage to see the Bike rider hit the tar just before I freeze bracing for some sort of impact.That flying chunk lands a short distance in front of me. It drags for another 1 meter or so and comes to stop 50 cm before my feet.
I still did not move.
Vision clears. This is no debris. This is the pillion rider.
2 seconds .. 5 seconds .. 10 seconds
I still did not move.
I see no blood , but no movement from the body either. I am confused.
Around me people are already swinging into action.
Fuck! Swen do something? !! Like what ? Anything!I still did not move.
Other people are beginning to throw water into his face and trying to get him to move. I see no sign of life.
At least check his pulse!Slowly, agonizingly slowly, I reach out to check his pulse. Before I can reach down to him he starts to cough.
I take two steps back. I melt into the crowd that had gathered.
What was if that was your friend? I would have done something! Are you sure? ….I am ashamed.
I walk away trying to convince myself that I would have done something if nobody else was there and it was up to me.
10 minutes later the whole world is normal again.
Wow… poor you, that must have been horrible!
Don’t beat yourself up about it. What could you have done? And I know that there are some statistics somewhere that wrongly administered first aid is worse than no first aid.
So unless you are a specialist, a doctor or a nurse there’s nothing you could have done better than somebody else around you who might be.
And you’ll never know what you can do until there’s the situation and you do it. So don’t get all hypothetical. What ifs never helped anybody.
—
Ok, you are allowed to think now, “easier said than done and what does kalafudra know about it anyway?!”
Damn…sounds bad. Thing is I think I would have reacted the same way.
And believe you me man…you would definitely react differently if the situation called for it. You’re an ass…but not *that* much of an ass.
similar post: http://psyriac.com/2007/01/11/what-happened-to-shock-and-awe/
@kalafudra
I guess you are correct.
@presti
Now that you mention it, I remember that post. I thought I read something similiar while writing this post
I agree with Kalafudra and The Prestidigitator. We over-achieving Indians always look like a deer caught in the headlight when stuff like this happens.
But remember Swenny – The Force is Strong with you. It has always been strong with my family…
Now, if the person on the ground was a hot chic, you’d have dived right in.
Hmm .. i guess so ..
A couple of weeks ago, I witnessed two bikes in a head-on collision with each other. The corporate bus I was on stopped, half the people in the bus rushed out, atleast a dozen called the ambulance. Yours truly stayed put. Your post reminded me of how much of an ass I felt like that day…nevermind the fact that there were too many people trying to help.
@Jinx
Well looks like it is a phase that everyone goes through…
@Swen: Dude, i went through something similar (not an accident though) a long while ago in school. Although i wasnt the first one to run and call for help, my actions werent all that fruitful either. My only consolation was the other 40 odd students in class firmly imprinted their ass cheeks into the wooden bench and i had at least ran to get some help!
In your case..dont beat yourself up!
just like when I told you about the incident when a rich guy smashed the wind shield of the auto rickshaw I was in. I didn’t do anything. My head was frickin numb .
atleast you almost went on to check his pulse… a good start that is. the next time this kind of incident, give that person artificial respiration a.k.a kiss of life
Sounds awful…but it’s really no reason to beat yourself up. You didn’t do anything wrong.
Situations where you’re the only one around are completely different, and a person’s head works differently, too. There’s a kind of autopilot for that kind of thing, so there’s not much point worrying.
When you aren’t alone, doing nothing is *always* better than doing the wrong thing. And with a person who was thrown around in an accident, there’s a long list of wrong things to do.
Btw…nowadays taking a person’s pulse during first aid is strongly discouraged. It’s too easy to get it wrong/get a false result.
@Sooraj
I’ll think of that next time
@Deadra
Hmmm .. i hadn’t thought about the false reading part of it.
well done, guy