The Mob Mentality

Situation#1
Rishikesh, India
June, 2008
The River Ganges


I was bathing in the holy Ganges River with other local Indian women in saris, and Indian men in just shorts. It was a sweltering day, and even through I risked getting Ecoli, or a skin eating bateria by bathing in the river, I couldn't help myself. I'm a water bug, and the cold water felt sooooo good on my hot skin.

Suddenly I heard a scream, and I looked to see a teenage boy loose control in the powerful current, and get pulled into a rapid, swirled out, and go under the water. Everyone around me was watching with looks of horror. As a former lifeguard my first instinct was to dive into the water, get pulled into the rapid, and swim out to save him. But I held back because I wasn't sure if it was safe for me. My heart raced, and I bit my lip as I prayed to see the boy resurface. Thankfully, he did when the water became shallow and calm. He stood up and coughed violently for several minutes. People ran down the bank to make sure he was all right, and indeed he was.


Situation#2
Tongliao, China
August 2008
Xilamulun Park

Ned and I were walking in Xilamulun park several days after we arrived in Tongliao. It was night time and there were many traditional Chinese dancers, vendors selling hotdogs, tofu on a stick, and tentacles on a stick. Children walked hand in hand with their parents, and fortune tellers sat in little wooden chairs surveying the crowd. We exited the crowded park to go home, and I caught sight of a mob of people. I tugged Ned in that direction and we discovered three young women in a vicious fight. Two girls were attacking one girl. By the time we got there, they had her lying on the ground, and they took turns kicking her belly and her face and her head. I was horrified as was everyone else. I wanted to run in between the girls and scream at them to go away, but I scared. I got angry when I looked around and saw many strong men just watching the fight. Suddenly, the two girls flagged down a taxi and rode away, leaving the poor nearly unconscious girl in the middle of the street.



After both of these situations I felt guilty for not doing something. Of course, I have my excuses as everyone else does. First and foremost, what holds most importance is self preservation and most people won't enter into situation if there is chance they could get badly hurt.


I remember telling the student teacher on the India trip about the boy who got pulled into the Ganges, and I said, "I was going to jump in and help him, but he bobbed up before I could."

She replied, "You wouldn't have jumped in. Everyone assumes the mob mentality when things happen like that."

So I thought, Isn't that an awful thing? Wouldn't I have jumped? Was everyone else thinking the same thing?

I think I would have jumped into both of the above situations if the victims were family members or close friends, but how can we be sure?


Not everyone is cut out to be a hero, but I hope if I'm ever in a life or death situation there will be someone willing to risk it to save me.