By Books Writer Denise Turney

You could save someone’s life if you don’t ignore what you see. That’s the most obvious reason to start responding to calls for help. What you choose to do could change your life forever, leaving you to rest or wrestle with memories.

When Responding to Calls for Help Is Legally Required

Laws offer a shield, protecting you from looking the other way when you find someone in need in certain situations. For example, there are countries where it’s illegal to leave someone stranded at sea. Depending on the law, you might have to at least try to rescue the person. Failing to return an abandoned child to her parents or to authorities is also an offense in some jurisdictions.

Another act that could be viewed as “empathy” or “sympathy” is not only about caring about someone. In some jurisdictions, seeing a crime and just walking away, failing to report the crime, is an offense. The legal intentions are good.

Yet, people do see others in dangers and walk away.

What would cause someone to look away, thinking that not responding to calls for help is their better choice? Furthermore, what’s the psychology behind this type of decision?

Why People Avoid Responding to Calls for Help

Surprisingly, even people who are victims of crimes don’t always report the offense. Legal Beagle reports that only about 42.6% of people who were the victim of crime in 2018 reported the crime.¹

Robberies were reported the most. Reasons people don’t report crimes, whether they were a victim or a witness, include:

• Wanting to keep what occurred a secret
• Fear that they might be harassed or targeted if they report the offense
• Thinking that there are so many other “major” crimes going on that the police won’t do anything if they do report what happened to them or what they witnessed happening to someone else

Time magazine shares that you might ignore what you see and become neglectful as it regards responding to calls for help because:

• You think someone else will report the offense or come to the aid of the person who’s in need²
• Determination to protect your own or another person’s reputation
• Feeling a connection to an abuser to the point that you think protecting that person is akin to protecting yourself or a larger group the person is a part of

Denial as a Great Way to Ignore What You See

There could also be an urge to deny what’s happened. If you ignore what you see, it might be a way to make the event “unreal”. It’s similar to being in shock, something that is used to protect yourself from the emotional weight of trauma.

If you’ve seen an auto accident, you might have witnessed dozens of drivers slowing down only long enough to observe how damaged a vehicle became following an accident. What you and other drivers might not do is make calls for help.

Something as simple as dialing 911 on your cell phone might never cross your mind. At the most, you might say a silent prayer for those involved in the accident, press the accelerator and drive further down the road. What if your actions could save someone’s life?

Certainly, you wouldn’t put yourself in danger. But perhaps you could make a telephone call, alerting trained authorities that someone needs assistance. Not only could that single act help another person, it could save you from guilt.

Why You Shouldn’t Ignore What You See

Here are more reasons why you shouldn’t ignore what you see, instead responding to calls for help:

• What you witness stays in your memory
• Not responding to calls for help could push an experience into your subconscious, the place from which nagging impulses could cause you to feel inadequate, fear or dread
• Your actions, your decision not to ignore what you see, could have a ripple effect

If you don’t ignore what you see and, instead, stir up the courage to respond to calls for help, you could help save someone who’s got a child. That, in turn, would impact at least two people in a single act. Because we aren’t islands, over time, what you did could positively impact an entire family.

Options for Responding to Calls for Help

Responding to calls for help could take place in different ways. For example, you could:

• Dial 9-1-1 (or the emergency number in the country you’re in when a need arises)
• Contact local services
• Create a signal fire, especially when stranded in snow or on an island, etc.
• Flashing light
• Waving bright orange or bright red clothing
• Placing a S-O-S signal on the ground using your foot, a rock, stick, etc.
• Blow a loud whistle
• Call a friend
• Go to a shelter
• Set off flares
• Place a severely injured person in a safe place while you hurry to get help

When you think about it, perhaps nothing that you do occurs in isolation. On top of that, you don’t know what’s coming in your life. It may be impossible to consciously know every experience you will have. Yet, that doesn’t mean that you can’t decide now that you’ll help someone in need without putting yourself in danger. It’s also a reason to bring emergency gear with you, especially while traveling, camping or vacationing.

After all, as happens with Clarissa in Escaping Toward Freedom, your moment of decision could come while you’re on vacation. Or it could come while you’re at home, at work or on the road.

Resources:

1.  Why Don’t People Report Crimes to the Police? (legalbeagle.com)
2. Bystander Psychology: Why Some Witnesses to Crime Do Nothing | TIME.com