THE LAST SAMARITAN?

The question, on the surface, is simple. Would you be a good Samaritan? Would you go to the aid of a stranger in need? Would you ignore the risks to your own safety, even your own life, to help a damsel in distress? Or a man being beaten up by a gang of drunken louts?

The issue has come up again for several reasons. We have just had the first anniversary of the death of Brendan Keilar, a young father, who went to the aid of a woman being manhandled in Collins Street one busy  week-day morning. Her attacker had a gun. And Keilar was shot dead.

Did that deter you from ever responding to a distress call? On the 3AW Rumour File today there was the story of a Victorian Policeman, off-duty, on holiday in New South Wales.

He went to a man’s rescue in a gang attack and received serious, life-threatening injuries.  He can’t go back to work. He can’t get WorkCover here in Victoria because he wasn’t working and it happened across the border in New South Wales. Even though police officers are imbued with the thought that they are really on duty 24/7 and, when somebody is in trouble, borders don’t matter.

If he could, he’d probably do it again. That’s the way some people are.  I was talking to correspondent Malcolm Stewart in London yesterday about the nightmarish wave of knife attacks throughout Britain over the weekend. Seven people killed. Four in London. The new mayor of London Boris Johnson is urging people not to get involved if they witness an attack.

Is that the sort of community we have become? Do we now just ignore the dictum that evil men flourish when good men do nothing?

Several years ago I was in a pub when a man pulled a knife. Luckily I was behind him and could get him in a bear hug until he dropped it. At such times you don’t think about your own safety. You certainly don’t think of medical insurance or WorkCover. Maybe you should.

I wonder if your reaction is instinct. I wonder if there is a thing called the ‘bystander syndrome’. Don’t get involved. Somebody has a heart attack. A couple of people will leap forward. A dozen will step back. Is that inherent? Or is it self-preservation.

Sometimes it is put down to adrenalin. In a moment of danger the adrenalin surges and masks any fear. We have seen instances where people in moments of life and death emergencies have lifted weights they could never lift in their normal life. Run faster, walked further, than they dreamed was possible, to get help.

If those things disappear, if we do become a nation of bystanders, then it is to our personal and collective loss.

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2008