Man left (wounded) fiance & kids at Aurora theater and drove away. Web is beating him up.

[TalkingDog]

165. He was in a blind panic. Could you relate an instance when you were in a similar situation?

How did you react?

Because I've arrived late to a stadium after it collapsed, people lying everywhere, bleeding and broken. EMS running around like crazy trying to do triage. I jumped right in and started grabbing the mildly wounded who were walking around and telling them to sit down and stay until somebody could look at them.

After about 10 minutes I realized I had arrived at an emergency drill. All the wounded and screaming were there for extra credit in class.

Realizing there were no wounded or dying, I went off by my self and got hysterical.

Another time my mother, who was in the midst of dying of cancer had had a stroke, I dutifully got her dressed and took her to her doctor instead of calling an ambulance because I was on my way into town to go to yoga anyway.

The Doctor told me they were going to admit her to the hospital and run some tests. I got up to leave to go to yoga. It was like I was on automatic pilot. I later realized I was in shock and had dissociated. Luckily before I left the Doctor explained that I was going to have to take her to the emergency room to have her admitted, so I didn't end up leaving her there alone. But otherwise I probably would have. Not because I didn't care, but because at that point it's like my brain had it's own agenda which was: if you keep things as normal as possible, then there is nothing really wrong.

Now, if you had only seen me in one or the other of those situations with no other context, you would decide I was either a selfless hero or a stone-cold heartless bitch.

I'll give the guy a break. He was panicked. Until you've been exactly in his shoes, you really don't have a right to judge him.