A few days ago I read about the teenager who drowned while trying to swim across a reservoir. Apparently it was reported that teenager's friends sought the help of many people nearby, but no one offered any help, not even the use of the handphone or life buoy! I have been asking myself over the past few days if I would have done the same like those people, ie just stand and watch or would I have done something to save the teenager.
To begin with, I am a swimmer, and I did undergo some survival and lifeguard training many years ago, short of the official lifeguard certification. I have been trained in first aid too, though not very current. So I look like a good candidate to save the drowning teenager? Well, the other people standing by could jolly well be more certified than me. They could be better swimmers or even certified lifeguards! But why was it that no one offered to help?
There would be varying responses to such an incident. What if everyone scrambled to save the teenager and more people drowned? What if the teenager was just having some fun out there and out to fool everyone ashore? What if I took off my personal stuff like wallet and handphone and leave it ashore, then jumped in to save the teenager, only to return to shore and found my stuff stolen? There are many other possible what-ifs. I can't really blame the people for not attempting to save the teenager. It could really be they are all not strong swimmers and have no confidence to save the teenager even if they really want to. If I were there, I believe a lot of struggle will go on inside my mind and I might or might not do anything at all too. It is quite difficult to imagine and think about what I might have done. But I believe there is a high chance that I might do it, after assessing and reasonably satisfied that I would be able to accomplish the task without endangering both our lives.
On a slightly different note, could it be that we have all grown up to be selfish? Well, in Singapore, it seems that we are indirectly brought up to mainly "take care of ourselves". You may say "Hey, how can this be? Each time during a charity show, many millions are raised. So how can you say Singaporeans are generally selfish?" Yeah, nowadays we have at least 4 - 6 charity shows a year raising money for various charitable organisations, and the response from the people seems to be encouraging, with the amounts donated increasing each show. Lets take away the attractive prizes and see if the response will be the same. I will not discuss too much of charity shows in this post, but I want to raise the question that "Are Singaporeans only charitable because there are prizes to be won?" Hmmm, would more people have jumped into the reservoir if there was a car to win for the person who managed to save the teenager? This sounds ridiculous but think about it. Ponder ponder.
I have not personally been tested in this aspect. So I do not know how I will fare when a real situation happened in front of me requiring me to make a swift decision. I only hope I won't be disappointed with myself.
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