for your consideration:
1. A man walks by you on the sidewalk stumbling a bit. It is midnight. After he passes by, you look back and realize he is out of his mind drunk. In fact, he is a ways up the sidewalk now and has just swerved so violently that he has fallen over, cracking his head on the sidewalk. He isn't moving. You stand for awhile, watching for a sign of life or death. After a very long pause, he starts to stir. Do you:
A. Call 911 and report the man so that he doesn't walk into traffic or fatally hurt himself
B. Walk home and hope the best for him, figuring the last thing he'd want is a run-in with the police
2. As you walk toward your car in the morning, you notice a dog across the street that is clearly not well. The mange is visible at first glance. As you cross the street toward your car, you notice the dog is also using only 3 legs, having broken one. The dog is shaking, suffering, sniffing and trying to eat weeds, and peeing on everything. The dog also wears a collar of some sort. Do you:
A. Find an animal rescue phone number and report this dog (do they send a pound puppy truck? do they rehabilitate these animals or just euthanize them? would i have to get close to the dog and keep in around while someone shows up? would anyone show up?)
B. Get in your car and hope the best for it.
my motivation for acting in either situation would come from very different places. in the human situation, fear of potential guilt might drive me to at least report the person. in the situation with the dog, sympathy for a suffering creature would cause the call. both situations involve so very many unknowns.
are there shoulds for these situations? what do they depend on?
culpability of subject? convenience? the way it would make me feel after? karma?
WDLD?
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