WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

I like the new show with John Quinones called "What Would You Do?" It's like a cross between "The Good Samaritan" and the old "Candid Camera" show except they set up situations to test the reaction of ordinary people to ethical dilemmas.

For example, a child actor is placed on the street, crying and asking for help. It is disheartening to see the number of people who just pass by without responding but then it is heartwarming to see people who rise to the occasion. In another episode, they showed a dog in a car with closed windows. Of course the people outside could not see that the dog was actually totally ventilated and safe.

I believe that I would do the right thing in those situations and I have had a number of situations where I believe that I "stepped up" to do the "right thing" in testy situations, but truly, one never really knows what one would do in every situation.

One time at Lazarus, years ago, I heard a child wailing and my first thought was one of irritation, wondering why the parent didn't do something. After a few seconds, it dawned on me what the child was saying. He was lost from his mother. I squatted down to his level and I gained his confidence and I told him that we would find his mommy. I had his little hand in mine as we walked around the floor until we found her. She immediately grabbed his arm and started berating him. I told her that she needed to comfort him and it wasn't his fault that he was lost. She told me it was none of my business! So much for being a Good Samaritan!

According to the experts on "What Would You Do?" THAT WAS TOTALLY THE WRONG THING TO DO! Listening to the experts, I realized that they were correct and I should have reacted the way they stated. I should have kept the child in the same place; I should have gotten Security to find the mother and let them handle it.

Here's what I realized: how easy it would be to steal a child! I had that little boy's confidence in a few seconds; I could have led him down the escalator and out the door within a matter of minutes.

I had always disliked seeing children on leashes, but after that incident, I could see the wisdom of it!