The Era of Good Samaritans
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 1:01 pm
http://www.today.com/news/vietnam-vet-g ... 1D79933390
We could make this a big "Gov't failed again" discussion, and we have a VA discussion and a hundred "government sucks" discussions going on, but I hope this isn't where people's heads go first when they read this.
There's a few things that just rock about this story...
1) They were staying past closing time. Not huge, but contributes to the coolness of the story.
2) Sometimes you don't know what degree of intrusion will wear on someone's pride, and don't want to be to confident in providing help where it isn't justified. Whether for considerate or selfish reasons, it could feel a bit awkward to lift a guy out of his wheelchair and into a seat while you fixed it for him. That would "paralyze" a lot of well-meaning people from acting. It didn't with these guys. They took action in a respectful way that helped maintain this guy's dignity.
3) Two of the guys helping this dude were black. The interracial aspect is pretty cool. With all this Israel/Palestine BS going on, and certain racial tensions that sometimes froth up in discussions of social safety nets, crime, or immigration, I enjoy seeing evidence that society isn't in a bitter racial gridlock. Whether it is a "culture" thing, or a "race" thing, or a "class" thing, or a "personal responsibility" thing, these debates often seem to divide people into "tribes." I like to see that shit all melt away.
To some it may seem obvious to do this, but it takes a certain degree of balls to lift a man out of a wheelchair and take some initiative respectfully without being patronizing.... this could have easily been, "OMG sir are you ok let me call the police, VA services, or your daughter to come pick you up OMG are you sure you're ok how can I help you poor thing." A vet doesn't want that $hit. It takes a certain degree of balance to respectfully, non-patronizingly deal with a potentially awkward (for the vet) event like this, where the answer as to how a man who is feeling like he's quickly losing his dignity would most want to be treated. Many people's hearts are in the right place, but they lack the situational awareness to know what to do. It appears that these guys had the moral compass, social skills, and technical skills to be extremely "good dudes." And I'm 30... I don't have nearly the "faith" to restore in humanity that a 70-year-old vet does.
Just in case you needed a little hope-for-humanity restored... this is a great story.Michael Sulsona had no idea a trip to Lowe’s would end up changing his life.
The Marine Corps veteran, who lost both legs after stepping on a landmine in Vietnam in 1971, says he’d waited two years for the Department of Veterans Affairs to send him a new wheelchair. It finally arrived at his New York City home yesterday after the 62-year-old’s story went viral following a random act of kindness.
Sulsona was shopping at a Lowe’s on Staten Island when a bolt snapped on his old wheelchair last week.
Three employees stepped forward to repair the broken wheelchair. A photo was snapped of the legless Sulsona watching from a nearby chair. The story then caught fire on the Internet after he wrote a letter to a local paper. Days later, Sulsona opened his door to discover that the VA finally had delivered a new wheelchair.
We could make this a big "Gov't failed again" discussion, and we have a VA discussion and a hundred "government sucks" discussions going on, but I hope this isn't where people's heads go first when they read this.
There's a few things that just rock about this story...
1) They were staying past closing time. Not huge, but contributes to the coolness of the story.
2) Sometimes you don't know what degree of intrusion will wear on someone's pride, and don't want to be to confident in providing help where it isn't justified. Whether for considerate or selfish reasons, it could feel a bit awkward to lift a guy out of his wheelchair and into a seat while you fixed it for him. That would "paralyze" a lot of well-meaning people from acting. It didn't with these guys. They took action in a respectful way that helped maintain this guy's dignity.
3) Two of the guys helping this dude were black. The interracial aspect is pretty cool. With all this Israel/Palestine BS going on, and certain racial tensions that sometimes froth up in discussions of social safety nets, crime, or immigration, I enjoy seeing evidence that society isn't in a bitter racial gridlock. Whether it is a "culture" thing, or a "race" thing, or a "class" thing, or a "personal responsibility" thing, these debates often seem to divide people into "tribes." I like to see that shit all melt away.
To some it may seem obvious to do this, but it takes a certain degree of balls to lift a man out of a wheelchair and take some initiative respectfully without being patronizing.... this could have easily been, "OMG sir are you ok let me call the police, VA services, or your daughter to come pick you up OMG are you sure you're ok how can I help you poor thing." A vet doesn't want that $hit. It takes a certain degree of balance to respectfully, non-patronizingly deal with a potentially awkward (for the vet) event like this, where the answer as to how a man who is feeling like he's quickly losing his dignity would most want to be treated. Many people's hearts are in the right place, but they lack the situational awareness to know what to do. It appears that these guys had the moral compass, social skills, and technical skills to be extremely "good dudes." And I'm 30... I don't have nearly the "faith" to restore in humanity that a 70-year-old vet does.