Will You Practice What You Preach?

1487 Words3 Pages

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to

me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping’”(qtd. in “The History

of Mister Rogers' Powerful Message”). Mr. Fred Rogers reflected on advice his mother had once

given him; however, this advice contains a few absolutes and may not ring true in today’s

society. A question is raised, scrutinizing the accountability of civilians and whether or not their

civic duty is to help. This is an ethical dilemma everyone could potentially face. When

witnessing a crime or act of bullying, just how responsible is a bystander to act? We don’t have

to put ourselves at danger necessarily, but calling the police or just saying, “Stop that!” could go

a long way.

The choice to act or not to act when crisis strikes lies within a person’s psyche. This

dilemma is a widely known trend called the bystander effect. As authors and psychological

researchers Jason Marsh and Dacher Keltner describe in their article “We Are All Bystanders,”

“When study participants thought there were other witnesses to the emergency, they felt less

personal responsibility to intervene.” The article featured in Changing Minds, an online center

focused on educating people on every side of controversial topics, called “The Bystander Effect”

describes the occurrence as, “[witnesses] assume nothing is wrong because nobody else looks

concerned.” Both of these definitions sound very similar to excuses as to why people don’t take

actions. Onlookers simply stand by when they receive social cues that the norm is to mind one’s

own business. The thought process seems to be, “If I can’t fight off a thief stealing a woman’s

purse, then I shouldn’t d...

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