On Saturday, as I was walking home on busy streets and busy places... when I was seeing an homeless person* resting on the balustrade to a little artificial pond. This might sound strange, but it actually isn't. The balustrade is low and you can sit on it quite comfortably. He was lying on it. Besides him were standing a couple bottles of beer. I couldn't see if they were all empty but some were. So... I didn't know if he was just resting or if he was in serious danger from alcohol intoxication or if he was about to fall into the pond. I stood there and watched to see if he was breathing or not, while a lot of people were walking by. He was breathing, but he was also moving towards the pond (shifting his weight in this direction).
So I went to him and asked him if he was ok. At first he didn't answer, so I repeated my question and he finally hummed something, but I couldn't understand. I told him, that this was dangerous, but obviously he was not interested in my concerns.
A man stopped his bike, starred, not exactly in that direction, but somewhere and after a few minutes (or maybe less, I don't know) he continued his ride.
I could have asked him for help, but what else could he have done? Well, I hadn't had my mobile phone with me, so I couldn't call the ambulance. But there was another woman, about 60 to 70 years old, who was sitting in a restaurant nearby and was watching the situation. I went to her. She asked me, if it was his beer. I said, that I don't know and she went with me. She then screamed at him louder than I did before (well, I didn't, I just tried to talk to him) and after that she slapped him in the face a few times. He woke up and she told him to get up. Then a man went by. He called the ambulance then, although the man (the probably homeless one) said he didn't want one.
So I thanked them and went home.
There are some people who think that it is ALWAYS, and defiantly ALWAYS false to lie, to slap someone, to hit someone, to kill, to ... (fill in with things which are mostly seen as not ok), i.e. some things are just categorically false. I do not think so! But why didn't I slap him in the face? Maybe I'm just a scaredy-cat, that is totally possibly. And he had a jack knife in his hand. But it was closed and it was quite fast clear that he was no real danger. Maybe I don't like to decide over people. It was quite clear, he just wanted to lie there and rest, maybe sleep out the alcohol and not be bothered by anyone. Just because he might not have a home, why shouldn't he have a right to be not bothered? He didn't do any harm. So why did I bother then? I could have gone along like all the other people did? And I thought about it, but I would have felt bad if he had died BECAUSE OF ME. Of course there would have been a great chance that he would not have died but I might not find out.
This is, of course, extremely egoistic: that I only cared about his death because I would have felt bad if he died because of me. (I'm not even sure if I did, so I should say: I might feel bad, because...). I wanted to avoid being sleepless thinking about weather he is dead or alive. I'm very clear about this, as I was thinking in that situation "Oh shit, I will not be able to sleep... if..." (this is shorted but in essence what I thought). And now, unfortunately, I'm sleepless, thinking... this.
Obviously, the other people, who just went by, were not as concerned about their well being as I was. That was the reason I decided to interfere. What bothers me is, that I obviously have no idea if it was good for him or not, I simply can't know. That might be a philosophical question (too)?
* I assume. Maybe he wasn't. I don't know.
P.S.: I had to look I few words up, (it is difficult to decide which are the words used in "real language" if you don't know them), I hope this makes some sense.
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