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Finally, a word about the awful things that happen to people and what we choose to do or choose not to do about them.
I’m talking about an attack on a man named Allen Haywood in a Washington, D.C. metro station the day after New Year’s. He was attacked in the early evening by two young teenagers for no apparent reason that anybody can see, as he read a book waiting to board a train after working out at a gym on 1)Capitol Hill.
He was beaten, his book was thrown in the tracks as those two kids and a number of others laughed about it.
Besides being really disgusted by and worried about the behavior of the two very young people who started this, I’m even more worried about what seemed to be dozens of people around him who apparently did nothing to stop the attack or help Haywood except take pictures. In the video, you can hear the voice of a man who might be a teenager himself, expressing disgust with what’s going on but he doesn’t seem inclined to do anything about it, except film the whole thing with what looks like a cell phone camera.
Can I just tell you, it’s easy to 2)rail against the indifference of humanity; it’s a lot harder to figure out what to do about it. But rail we must, because silence really does equal 3)assent, and we also have to ask the hard questions, including questions of ourselves.
Why, first of all, do some step in and so many look away? Or more to the point, continue to look and do nothing?
So why did nobody help Allen Haywood or even apparently call metro authorities who are present at every train stop? Because Haywood is a man and they thought he should be able to take care of himself? Because he’s white? Because they were afraid the kids would turn on them?
I remember when one of my stepdaughters and I were watching a news story unfold together. It was about a lawyer who was shot outside of a courthouse by a 4)disgruntled former client as a news cameraman who just happened to be there, captured the whole thing on tape.
My stepdaughter, who is a doctor, whose father is a lawyer, who may or may not have a disgruntled client someday, was disgusted by this. Why doesn’t he help him, she kept asking me. I had an answer: he was doing something by recording the scene. But that hardly seemed 5)adequate, and that’s exactly how I feel about what went on in that Washington metro station.
These days we talk of the citizen journalist, one who stands by and aids the reporting process by using increasingly inexpensive and accessible recording devices. Does this mean we are all bystanders now?
Just a few weeks ago I stopped to get my morning tea, when I saw a young teenager, maybe 14 or 15 years old, repeatedly slapping a very young child of maybe three or four. The teenager was surrounded by his friends and I 6)surmise that he was probably babysitting the child, would rather have been with his friends, and was 7)resentful about it.
I ran across the street saying, “Can I help you? Can I help you?” explaining I had young children too and maybe I could help him get things back on track. The boy—and he was a boy—told me in no uncertain terms to mind my own business. I told him if somebody bigger were hurting him, I would hope I would step in. I hope I would. I hope.
最后，讨论一下关于别人身上发生的可怕事情，以及我们会否选择出手相助。
我说的是一名叫艾伦·海伍德的男子在新年的第二天在华盛顿特区的地铁站被人袭击的事。傍晚时分，他无缘无故被两个少年袭击，当时他从国会山的一个体育馆锻炼完出来，一边看书一边等车。
他被人殴打，书被扔进了车轨，而那两个小孩和其他的一些人则因此而哈哈大笑。
除了对挑起这一事端的两个小青年的行为着实感到厌恶和担忧外，我更为忧心的是当时似乎有数十人在海伍德身边，但显然他们除了拍照外，没人出手阻止这起袭击或者向他施以援手。在视频中，你可以听到一个可能也是十多岁的年轻人对发生在眼前的这一事件表示厌恶，但他看来并不打算有所行动，而是用看起来像手机照相机的东西拍下整个事件。
我想直接地说，指责人性的冷漠很容易，但要搞清楚如何改善这种情况却难得多。但我们必须指责，因为沉默真的等同容许，而且我们还应提出这些尖锐的问题，其中包括抚心自问。
首先，为什么有些人出面干预而那么多人却转过头去？或者更中肯地说，为什么继续旁观而无动于衷？
所以，为什么没有人帮助艾伦·海伍德，或者直接喊一下地铁工作人员？他们在每个地铁站都有人驻守。难道是因为海伍德是一个男人，他们觉得他应该能照顾好自己？因为他是个白人？因为他们害怕那两个孩子会转而对付他们？
我记得我和我的一个继女一同收看一则新闻故事时的情景。那则新闻讲的是一名律师在法院前被他一名心怀不忿的前委托人枪杀，当时一名新闻摄影记者碰巧在场，将整个事件拍摄了下来。
我的继女——她是一名医生，对此感到十分厌恶。她的父亲是一名律师，他日后或许也有可能遇上一名心怀不忿的委托人。她不停地问我，为什么他不帮助他。我有一个答案：他正忙着拍下事件。但那理由似乎毫不充分，而那却正是我对于在华盛顿地铁发生的事件的感受。
如今，我们谈论全民记者，这些人随时候命，通过使用越来越便宜和便利的摄影设备来协助报道新闻的过程。这就意味着现在我们全都是旁观者了吗？
就在几周前，我停下来买早点，当时我看到一个大约十四五岁的少年不停地掌掴一个可能只有三四岁的小孩。这名少年身边围着他的一些朋友，我猜想他很可能是在照看这个小孩，而他更想和朋友们呆在一起，所以很厌恶这小孩。
我跑过马路，说道：“有什么需要我帮忙吗？有什么需要我帮忙？”并解释说我也有小孩，可能我可以帮他摆平这些事。这男孩——他确实只是个男孩，直截了当地叫我别多管闲事。我跟他说，要是哪个比他高大的人在欺负他，我希望我可以帮一下忙。我希望我会。我希望。
I’m talking about an attack on a man named Allen Haywood in a Washington, D.C. metro station the day after New Year’s. He was attacked in the early evening by two young teenagers for no apparent reason that anybody can see, as he read a book waiting to board a train after working out at a gym on 1)Capitol Hill.
He was beaten, his book was thrown in the tracks as those two kids and a number of others laughed about it.
Besides being really disgusted by and worried about the behavior of the two very young people who started this, I’m even more worried about what seemed to be dozens of people around him who apparently did nothing to stop the attack or help Haywood except take pictures. In the video, you can hear the voice of a man who might be a teenager himself, expressing disgust with what’s going on but he doesn’t seem inclined to do anything about it, except film the whole thing with what looks like a cell phone camera.
Can I just tell you, it’s easy to 2)rail against the indifference of humanity; it’s a lot harder to figure out what to do about it. But rail we must, because silence really does equal 3)assent, and we also have to ask the hard questions, including questions of ourselves.
Why, first of all, do some step in and so many look away? Or more to the point, continue to look and do nothing?
So why did nobody help Allen Haywood or even apparently call metro authorities who are present at every train stop? Because Haywood is a man and they thought he should be able to take care of himself? Because he’s white? Because they were afraid the kids would turn on them?
I remember when one of my stepdaughters and I were watching a news story unfold together. It was about a lawyer who was shot outside of a courthouse by a 4)disgruntled former client as a news cameraman who just happened to be there, captured the whole thing on tape.
My stepdaughter, who is a doctor, whose father is a lawyer, who may or may not have a disgruntled client someday, was disgusted by this. Why doesn’t he help him, she kept asking me. I had an answer: he was doing something by recording the scene. But that hardly seemed 5)adequate, and that’s exactly how I feel about what went on in that Washington metro station.
These days we talk of the citizen journalist, one who stands by and aids the reporting process by using increasingly inexpensive and accessible recording devices. Does this mean we are all bystanders now?
Just a few weeks ago I stopped to get my morning tea, when I saw a young teenager, maybe 14 or 15 years old, repeatedly slapping a very young child of maybe three or four. The teenager was surrounded by his friends and I 6)surmise that he was probably babysitting the child, would rather have been with his friends, and was 7)resentful about it.
I ran across the street saying, “Can I help you? Can I help you?” explaining I had young children too and maybe I could help him get things back on track. The boy—and he was a boy—told me in no uncertain terms to mind my own business. I told him if somebody bigger were hurting him, I would hope I would step in. I hope I would. I hope.
最后，讨论一下关于别人身上发生的可怕事情，以及我们会否选择出手相助。
我说的是一名叫艾伦·海伍德的男子在新年的第二天在华盛顿特区的地铁站被人袭击的事。傍晚时分，他无缘无故被两个少年袭击，当时他从国会山的一个体育馆锻炼完出来，一边看书一边等车。
他被人殴打，书被扔进了车轨，而那两个小孩和其他的一些人则因此而哈哈大笑。
除了对挑起这一事端的两个小青年的行为着实感到厌恶和担忧外，我更为忧心的是当时似乎有数十人在海伍德身边，但显然他们除了拍照外，没人出手阻止这起袭击或者向他施以援手。在视频中，你可以听到一个可能也是十多岁的年轻人对发生在眼前的这一事件表示厌恶，但他看来并不打算有所行动，而是用看起来像手机照相机的东西拍下整个事件。
我想直接地说，指责人性的冷漠很容易，但要搞清楚如何改善这种情况却难得多。但我们必须指责，因为沉默真的等同容许，而且我们还应提出这些尖锐的问题，其中包括抚心自问。
首先，为什么有些人出面干预而那么多人却转过头去？或者更中肯地说，为什么继续旁观而无动于衷？
所以，为什么没有人帮助艾伦·海伍德，或者直接喊一下地铁工作人员？他们在每个地铁站都有人驻守。难道是因为海伍德是一个男人，他们觉得他应该能照顾好自己？因为他是个白人？因为他们害怕那两个孩子会转而对付他们？
我记得我和我的一个继女一同收看一则新闻故事时的情景。那则新闻讲的是一名律师在法院前被他一名心怀不忿的前委托人枪杀，当时一名新闻摄影记者碰巧在场，将整个事件拍摄了下来。
我的继女——她是一名医生，对此感到十分厌恶。她的父亲是一名律师，他日后或许也有可能遇上一名心怀不忿的委托人。她不停地问我，为什么他不帮助他。我有一个答案：他正忙着拍下事件。但那理由似乎毫不充分，而那却正是我对于在华盛顿地铁发生的事件的感受。
如今，我们谈论全民记者，这些人随时候命，通过使用越来越便宜和便利的摄影设备来协助报道新闻的过程。这就意味着现在我们全都是旁观者了吗？
就在几周前，我停下来买早点，当时我看到一个大约十四五岁的少年不停地掌掴一个可能只有三四岁的小孩。这名少年身边围着他的一些朋友，我猜想他很可能是在照看这个小孩，而他更想和朋友们呆在一起，所以很厌恶这小孩。
我跑过马路，说道：“有什么需要我帮忙吗？有什么需要我帮忙？”并解释说我也有小孩，可能我可以帮他摆平这些事。这男孩——他确实只是个男孩，直截了当地叫我别多管闲事。我跟他说，要是哪个比他高大的人在欺负他，我希望我可以帮一下忙。我希望我会。我希望。