What would you do?

I would like to prose a question to all of you out there in the blogging world that read my silly little ramblings. What would you do? Last night when both my husband and I couldn't sleep we ended up watching TV. We rarely watch TV past 9:30 and this certain program started at 10. It seems to me the program was Dateline or something like that. They were creating situations to set people up. The first set up was about being a good Samaritan. They acted like there was a casting call and when the individual arrived they were told that they were to be filmed at a studio across the park and that they would have to give their thoughts about the story of the Good Samaritan. Then the interviewer told them the story from the Bible. Half of the participants were rushed out the door saying to go quickly to the studio that they were already late and the other half were to go without time restraint. While on their way across the park, they encountered a man who had been mugged. Of course this was an actor and the whole thing was a set up. Half the time there was a black man and the other half there was a white man. In the end the study showed that race played a little importance but not enough to be specific. What was really the deciding factor was time. 35% of the people that were in a time crunch stopped to help the man on the road. 80% of the people that were not in a time crunch stopped. This difference is staggering to me. How often are we to busy to look at our brother or sister who are in need of help. This was a powerful example to me of how our world and society are today and what little things I can do to make this a better place. I am not bragging but Brent and I have made it a point to help others that are in need. We have some rules about helping people but for the most part we let the spirit guide us. There have been many times we have driven someone someplace or bought someone a few gallons of gas. We are always willing to give someone a jump or push someone off to the side of the road. This will continue for the rest of our lives. I know there are people out there so willing to help me in my time of need and so I reciprocate. That is not to say that is the only reason I do something of course. I have this little voice inside my head that screams compassion for people I have never met!

There were a few different set ups that they did but the last one and then this one really got to me. They placed a man and a woman in a busy park and the man was very verbally abusive to the woman. In this instance the man was white and the woman black. Several men went past without even glancing up to see. But then one woman stopped and told the guy to back away and told him he was being abusive and physically took the woman away from the man and made the woman walk away with her. This situation happened twice with two different women enter veining. When interviewed they said that it made them crazy to see the man abusing her and they knew they had to step up and do something to get her out of the situation. Of course then the roles were reversed. In the next situation they had a black man and a white woman. The same thing was happening, the man was being abusive. A group of about four women were walking together when they came across this. They told him to stop and he didn't. They told him to again and told him they would call the police and he said to go ahead and do it. They stayed about 20 feet back from what was going on. They sent one woman to go call while the other three just stood there. I was outraged. There were three of those women to one man. Then they showed the same man and woman but this time there was a male jogger who was about 6'7'' (no kidding) and when the man started kicking the woman the jogger got pissed and came to the rescue. He said that he wears a heart monitor to jog with and it's usually at about 130 but when he got done with the confrontation it was at 160. They had a specialist who said that even in this day and age it is typical for people to be more afraid of a black man that a white man and that is why the black man didn't have as many people stop to help. When I saw the first scenario I was feeling like Ya go woman power but then when I watched to group of four women just stand there I felt like women all over were stinking wimps. After having given this some thought however I feel like I would have been more hesitant to help with the second scenario. I want to put it out there that I am not racist! I have several friend who are of different back grounds both color and religion. I have had the opportunity to get to know different races and be influenced by those who are not exactly like me. I love my cousin Mark (who is black) and his children. I love those little kids in Emma's class who are Black and Philippineo and Muslim, and whatever else those precious little ones are. We are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and he loves us no matter how we look. I will now freely admit however that I would be hesitant to go forward in the last scenario and help. I want to say if there was more than just me, I would not doubt but me alone I have to say I would be scared. This is a grim realization for me and something that I am really going to work on getting over. So let me know your thoughts about these two set ups. What would you do?