The bystander effect. We’ve all heard the horrible story of Kitty Genovese and the consequences that came along with people in that situation deciding not to help. Standing by while someone is in distress without lending a hand can be dangerous. It’s hard to think back and realize some of the times that I have been in that position, the mindset of a bystander.
While thinking back to some of the times that I’ve been a bystander, there is just one situation that is burned into my memory. I was in middle school and around that time a lot of people are immature. As a result of our immaturity we thought watching people fight was funny and the “cool” thing to do. There was one particular fight that I’ll never forget. Myself and a few of my friends were standing around waiting for a class to start and we saw two girls start fighting. Being the immature kids we were, we ran over to watch. In all honesty this was quite possibly the most brutal fight I’ve ever seen. It was completely one-sided. Eventually it was no longer just a few of us, towards the end of the fight there had to be about 15 people watching and not one single person lifted a hand to help the girl who was being brutally beaten. We all sat and watched and I can still see the blank stare on the girls face and teachers had to carry her away.
During the fight I was just caught up in watching. I felt horrible but not enough to stop it. I didn’t know the severity of the situation at that point. My feelings after the fight were completely different. Till this day I can’t believe I sat back and watched that happen. I mean the severity of the beating that the girl took is ridiculous. Not only did I sit back and watch, approximately 14 or so other people did too. We watched someone get hurt, could have easily stopped it and prevented further damage but we didn’t. From the day the fight happened until now, I’ve always felt horrible for not helping.
Being a bystander doesn't just affect, you or the person you aren't helping. The bystander affects so many people beyond that. The implications of being a bystander are huge. SO many things that happen are preventable if someone would just be courageous enough to step up and decide that enough is enough. This applies to greek life as well. Excessive drinking, hazing and many other negative issues associated with greek life would be on their way to being obsolete but it takes everyone to make something like this happen. I just wonder at what point will it really be enough to make the greek community as a whole stand up and speak out. Lives have already been lost due to some of the issues that should be changed such as hazing etc. Who knows what it will actually take but hopefully it doesn't take us too long as a community to realize that some things do need to be changed in order to make sure that we are moving forward as one greek community, even though we may be spread across different councils.
Ron, you are absolutely right. I really loved what you said: "SO many things that happen are preventable if someone would just be courageous enough to step up and decide that enough is enough." The word "courageous" describes exactly what that person has to be. So many people are afraid of being judged or not accepted by the majority that they'd rather watch things happen that they don't necessarily agree with. I hope that the Greek Community isn't forced into a situation of "growing up" and rather just ahve one person show how courageous he/she is and lead by example.
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