Just one of the many reasons why its better to live in the country. Ignoring people in obvious need seldom happens in small towns.
Not necessarily because we're better people but because there are fewer of us. In cities each person is less important and
less valuable. Seems to be the natural way of things.

when we lived in tribes everybody was looked after. even after that village idiots were looked after.
now it seems we may as well all be aliens.

I have helped strangers before, and will undoubtedly do so again if the situation arises. However, there are some situations in which I would not engage. While it might be deemed right, or wrong, to pick and choose when and where to respond, I must think of my own self and safety first. Yes, our society has had many changes: some good, and some not. People have become more ego-centric, less engaged in the world around them, and awfully busy. It is understandable, and not.

All of the time. I can't understand it.

You write as if there was a time that people would help a stranger. When was that? It was and still is common to help a neighbor but poor people have been starving on the street since the beginning of civilization. It is a very rare person who will stop and help, but it has always been that way.

Now for a little anti-conservative rant. The conservatives/christians can't even conceive that someone would help their fellow man. There was a law in Arizona, which I believe has been struck down, where they can confiscate your car if it is used to transport illegal aliens. The problem I see is I cannot conceive driving past someone walking in the desert without stopping to see if they need help, and I am not going to ask to see identification before I render assistance. And yes I have loaded a couple of Spanish speaking men in the car with my family and drove them, almost a 100 miles because we were headed to the same city.

Saved a Ranger's Life

On Fourth of July weekend at Lake Colchuck in 2004, we awoke to six inches of snow. With freezing, high winds, it was sleeting sideways.

Hiking out, my boyfriend and I came upon a U.S. Forest Service Ranger lying beside the trail. Dressed in a wet T-shirt and shorts, she was shivering violently, gasping for air. Her mother-in-law dithered around uselessly.

“Why can’t she breathe?” I asked. “She forgot her asthma inhaler and jacket.”

Quickly I gave her two puffs from my emergency asthma inhaler. Although she could breathe, she had hypothermia.

Get Out of Wind and Sleet

Dragged her under a tree to get her out of the storm. Asked my boyfriend to boil water and shield her from onlookers.

Pulled extra clothes from my pack. She was about my size. Quickly I removed her wet clothes. Dressed her in long underwear, rain pants, a turtleneck, sweater and down jacket. Made her a makeshift raincoat from a large plastic sack. Gave her my hat and mittens since I had a hood.

Pouring hot tea down her throat, we fed her candy for energy. Although she was reviving, she was still confused and stumbling.

Helpful Teen Boys

Two teen boys were came running up the trail.

“Do you guys have a cell phone?” I asked. “This woman is in serious medical trouble. She has hypothermia."

"Please run back down toward the trail head. As soon as you get a signal, call 911 and ask for an ambulance. Tell them we will meet the ambulance at the trailhead in 2-1/2 hours.” Off they went. Nice boys.

Getting Her Out

I had her mother-in-law carry my pack. Holding the Ranger’s arms over our shoulders, we carefully sidestepped down the steep, rocky trail. Our other arms supported her waist. There was a sharp drop-off on one side. The ambulance was waiting at the trailhead.

Thank You for Saving My Life

“Can I get your name and address?” the mother-in-law asked, as the Ranger was being tended in the ambulance. Of course, I carry paper and a pen in my pack.

Later, I got a beautiful letter from that Ranger. She returned my clothes.

“Thank you for saving my life,” she wrote. “I thought I could run up to Lake Colchuck like I do every day. I knew better than to go unprepared. I feel embarrassed to tell my work colleagues what a stupid thing I did. I will never forget your kindness.”

It’s population. Where there are too many, life loses value and people look out for only themselves. Less populated, your dependence on those around you increases their value.

Too many people, that sad and that simple.

When hiking, I always help people. That's why I carry a good first aid kit, Benadryl, Ibuprofen, extra clothing, reflective survival blanket, fire starter and food. Tweezers and small bottles of eye saline solution and hydrogen peroxide. Extra straps to make a splint or litter.

Over the years, I have rescued four people with hypothermia and given first aid.

QR powder stops bleeding instantly. Many men are on blood thinners.

Benadryl is the most popular item. "I didn't think about insects," people say.

"Mountaineering First Aid" is a great little book.

Empathy for others is certainly in decline! Thirty years ago, I was walking home from a store, on a cold, winter evening. Both my legs suddenly became crippled up with arthritis, and I was reduced to crawling. Absolutely nobody stopped. They must have thought I was just a drunken wino. Anyhow, I can remember crawling four blocks, getting splattered with slush as the cars drove by. I never forgot that experience. And even though I show empathy for others, I expect none in return.

It's tricky. Last Tuesday, Karen and I came upon a semi truck that had jackknifed on Highway 2. The cab was twisted on its side, driver-side down. After hitting the highway divider, the semi spilled its load of pallets on the other side of the highway. Gasoline trickled onto the pavement.

We stopped and jumped out. A woman was standing nearby, stunned. "Call 911!" I told her. She did.

"Kathleen, we can't do anything," Karen said. "Let the emergency responders deal with it. With this gasoline, someone with a cigarette could blow this rig up."

"You're right," I replied. "He may have a broken neck. If we move him, he could be paralyzed."

As we left, we heard the sirens of an approaching ambulance.

Badly injured, the driver was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, we read in the newspaper later.