Getting over the "someone else will do it"

[flojin]

Frank, thanks for sharing. You caution will keep you out of harm's way!

I was an army medic, and my unit was in Oakland, and most of the other medics were Oakland paramedics and they were some hardened motherfuckers to say the least. The stories they told were outrageous, and after a few years with them I became too calloused myself. I realized I had lost part of my humanity one day when I was walking down the street.

I was listening to a great song on my walkman and I saw an older gentleman take a bad fall, it looked like he collapsed. This was the first thought that went through my mind:

"You can finish this song on the walkman and still get to him in time to initiate CPR, don't bother running."

And I strolled up to the guy, not wanting to break into a run because I didn't want to mess up my listening experience.

It turned out the guy was OK, and I would have helped him had he needed it, but boy did I feel like a douche.