Windsor man rescues girl lying on snowy street as others pass her by

[enlightenment]

26. The first time I took the Red Cross CPR/First Aid course

(many, MANY years ago), the instructor told the class something I have never forgotten. There were people in the class who were not taking it because they chose to - they had been sent by their companies to learn. Their first question to the instructor was "why should we learn this?"

What he said was this:

Imagine that you are standing with a group of people. Some you know; some you don't.
Suddenly one of them collapses. They are having a heart "attack".

Assume that no one in the group - including you - knows how to help them in any way. You all stand, helpless - you don't know what to do, and you're afraid you might do something wrong. So you do nothing except hope the paramedics get there in time.

But they don't. And the person dies.

Now imagine that you know what to do, so within the limits of your skill and techniques, you start emergency life support. You know you are not a professional, but you are the person in the group who can DO something. So you do it - and you continue your efforts until the paramedics get there.

The person still dies.

The question to ask yourself -the question anyone should ask themselves is: How would you rather live? Knowing that you took the time to learn how to help, so at least you could try - or knowing that you couldn't be bothered or were too afraid to learn or didn't want to be responsible . . . so you did nothing.

The person is dead. You are still alive and you have to decide how you would rather live. Having tried, or having stood by.