February 01, 2022

The feet sticking out over the curb was the first thing I saw from the corner of my eye.  I was in rush hour traffic, inching my way along Arroyo Seco Parkway in Pasadena, getting ready to make a right turn.  Like all the cars in front of and behind me, we all tried to avoid hitting the feet of the man lying unconscious on the sidewalk.  After I passed him, I looked back in my rearview mirror.  People walked by the body toward the intersection; there were some people eating burritos at a restaurant’s outside patio area nearby; other people had just gotten their groceries at the Trader Joe’s and were loading them into their cars in the parking lot near the sidewalk.

I reassured myself that someone had already called or would call 911.  But after I made my left turn and continued heading to work, I started having an uneasy feeling and decided to go back.  It took about 15 minutes for me to make a U-turn and get back to the area.  The man’s body was still on the sidewalk.  People were still going about their day.  I didn’t hear any sirens.  I decided I couldn’t let this go any longer and called 911.  About five minutes later, the paramedics arrived, and I saw them rousing the man and asking him questions that he appeared to be responding to.  That’s when I left and went to work.  But, that image of the body lying on the sidewalk stayed with me for days and caused me to feel distress that other people didn’t call for help.  I was concerned about what this meant for our society:  Have we become so immune to other humans being in trouble or who are helpless that we don’t even bother to use our cell phones to call 911?  That thought really upset me.  What if that man had been my son? Would people have reacted the same if the body was that of a child?

I couldn’t help thinking about the time years ago that my late mother, in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease, managed to walk out of her nursing home unnoticed.  The authorities found her a few hours later at a park, surrounded by four or five people who had noticed she was distressed, had called 911, and stayed with her until help arrived.

I’ll never know what happened to the man on the sidewalk.  When I was sharing my sorrow at what I observed, someone said to me, “What we do to help matters.”  Those words soothed my spirit.  They helped me resolve to make 2022 a year in which we keep our eyes open for opportunities to help others.  Help those who are lonely, hungry, sick, unhappy.  Help for those wanting more happiness and meaning in their life.  Help for those we know, and help for those we’ll never know but who are fellow humans sharing this time and place.

I wish you a happy and healthy 2022.