Focus on Caring: The Spineless Bystander Effect

Posted on September 8, 2015 Updated on September 8, 2015

On July 7, 2014, I wrote an article Spineless inaction: the bystander effect, an article that told the story of a female McDonald’s restaurant employee who was severely beaten by another woman.  No one called 911, no one tried to intervene, but everyone within a block of the beating took cell phone video of the attack.  That, my friends, is an example of spineless inaction.

I’m going to counter that horrific example with a rewarding one out of Buffalo, New York.

Darnell Barton, a bus driver in Buffalo, New York, was on his multi-trip route over a bridge on the expressway.  Ahead of him, he could see a woman standing over the railing on the ledge; the intent of this woman was obvious to anyone who observed her.  The entire episode was caught on the bus dashboard camera. Read the rest of this entry »