Would you help a stranger?

video

I was reading this morning about a man who was mauled by a pack of savage dogs a few days ago. He’s criticised passers-by who videoed and photographed the attack instead of helping him.

Apparently four American Staffordshire Terriers attacked him as he went to move his car near his flat in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton on Tuesday night.

The dogs attacked him from behind and surrounded him, inflicting many bite wounds in a frenzied 15-minute attack.

Eventually, with the help of a nearby security guard, witnesses pulled the dogs off Mr Tat and called the police.

“He was very upset that there were so many people around and no one helped him,” his son, Vi, told the Herald Sun.

“My father was very upset when he saw that they were taping the attack and not helping.”

He said he could hear his father’s screams from their 15th storey flat. – News.com.au

I know that there would be a danger in stepping into a situation like that but surely you’d do something more than try to create a viral Youtube hit.

Everything these days seems to be captured on video and it’s not always a bad thing but I’m wondering if that’s come at the expense of basic human kindness. Have we become so detached that we see the misfortune of others as an opportunity to whip out our smart phones or is it more about the growing trend to not get involved.

If you saw someone in danger would you video them or help? Have you ever stepped in to help a stranger? I’d love to hear your stories.



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Sharing the Knowledge

The world is your classroom … but what are you teaching?

As I cycled home yesterday I spotted a fellow cyclist by the side of the bike path with his bike upside down and his back wheel in his hand. Whenever I spot someone with a flat or mechanical issue I slow down enough to ask if they have all they need to get back on the road. Most of the time the cyclist will have everything under control and so I just keep going but Glen was having a few issues.

He had owned his carbon fibre road bike for four months and this was his first flat tyre. He had absolutely no idea what to do. The interesting thing was that he said he couldn’t get good reception on his phone so he couldn’t head to YouTube for help. After giving him a quick lesson on tyre changing he was ready to get back on the road.

Doing what comes naturally

After that encounter I started thinking about a couple of things. Firstly how most of us have skills that we just take for granted that we can pass on to others. I’ve changed way too many flat tyres over the years so I can do a change in fairly quick time. I sometimes forget that something so natural for me is anything but natural for others.

What simple skills can you pass on to other people?

YouTube is your friend

The other thing I thought about was the rise of YouTube as a way of learning from each other. While Glen couldn’t get reception to watch any tyre changing action, he did say that he was going to watch some YouTube clips once he got home to learn more about the process.

Several months ago I had the unenviable task of changing parts inside our toilet cistern. I had the parts but no instructions so I searched YouTube to find some guy with the same cistern as us demonstrating what I needed to know. He wasn’t an expert, just a guy who had the same difficulties as me so once he figured out what to do he videoed a demonstration. Brilliant.

Do you head to YouTube to learn skills of any kind? Have you ever created a YouTube video to show how to accomplish simple tasks? Maybe I should video myself changing a bike tyre.



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Cat Gone

I’ve watched this several times already … but I think I’d better watch it a few more times.



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Paul Anka – Smells Like Teen Spirit

More often than I care to admit I open up YouTube and watch Paul Anka doing his big band version of Nirvana’s song Smells Like Teen Spirit. I thought you might like to see it too.

Turn up your speakers and press play.



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Who can you trust?

In an age where everything can be taken down and used as evidence against you, where anything you do could appear on YouTube or become the topic of a blog post, where the funny photos of you at a party can be out there for the whole world to see on Facebook, Seth Godin has written a great post about trust titled Off the record.

Have you ever been burned by friends when you’ve told them something in confidence? Have private words with someone you trusted come back to bite you?



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