Some niggling voice in my head (no, not like the voices that Chico hears - those are special) says
""All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)
Which taken as a moral absolute, means that we should, no matter what, intervene in any situation where evil is being perpetrated.
Of course, things get a little more complicated and personal safety gets in the way. As do thoughts about family and loved ones left behind if it all does go belly up and you dont make it out alive.
So....we pay a police force to do this stuff for us. To fight the good fight, to clean criminals off the street, and make our lives safe and worry free.
(Ok....feeding criminals KFC bargain buckets of chicken is another matter entirely, and some would point out that the act itself is more a violation of human rights than starving him to death, but I digress).
The bottom line is...we are supposed to intervene in this sort of thing whenever it rears it's ugly head. But, increasingly the move is to walk the other way, and value one's well-being over and above someone elses.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what crime you are falsely accused of by innocently assisting, so long as in your heart of hearts you know that you are in the right. Let them think what they may, but only you know the real truth.
Getting banged up for 20 years is another matter entirely of course, and I can't think of a way round that if it happens, apart from your right to a lawyer and fair trial of course.
Would I have passed her by ?
Depends on several factors....number of strangers I could see acting suspicious and waiting to jump out and car jack the vehicle, whether someone else was attending to her, whether I was late for a meeting and whether the chair would believe my story or not.
So saying, I have stopped to move a large St. Bernard from the middle of the road, that was sitting there quite happily. This was in a leafy lane between rural villages. He had a tag, with his address on. I read it and knew the house. Probably one of the biggest houses I have ever seen (excluding Buck Palace of course!). I went up...rang the bell to the gates...no joy. So I had some rope, tied him to the gates, rang the cops, reported the house and dog, and left.
I drove past about an hour later and the dog was gone and a RR Phaeton was in the drive. I stopped and rang the intercom. A mockney voice said "yer ?"
I said "I handed in your dog, I take it you found him. Is he ok ?"
The voice said "He's Fine", and then the intercom went dead. No word of thanks at all.
Next time I see the dog loose, I'm half-tempted not to bother. But to be fair, it's not the doggies fault. I might report them to the RSPCA though.
The other time also involved a dog. But I didn't stop. It was 12.30 am on a deserted country road that ran through a Traveller's Camp either side of the road. I thought it best not to try and explain why I had hit some traveller's dog which ran off limping. I did drive straight to the plod though and reported it (as you must do if you hit a dog). The constable agreed that stopping in the middle of a traveller's camp at midnight, in the middle of nowhere, was not a good idea. He also mentioned that several of their animals were always causing RTA's.
I'd like to say I'd take my chances with a dog over a human being, but as shown above, even that does not follow an absolute unfortunately.
""All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)
Which taken as a moral absolute, means that we should, no matter what, intervene in any situation where evil is being perpetrated.
Of course, things get a little more complicated and personal safety gets in the way. As do thoughts about family and loved ones left behind if it all does go belly up and you dont make it out alive.
So....we pay a police force to do this stuff for us. To fight the good fight, to clean criminals off the street, and make our lives safe and worry free.
(Ok....feeding criminals KFC bargain buckets of chicken is another matter entirely, and some would point out that the act itself is more a violation of human rights than starving him to death, but I digress).
The bottom line is...we are supposed to intervene in this sort of thing whenever it rears it's ugly head. But, increasingly the move is to walk the other way, and value one's well-being over and above someone elses.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what crime you are falsely accused of by innocently assisting, so long as in your heart of hearts you know that you are in the right. Let them think what they may, but only you know the real truth.
Getting banged up for 20 years is another matter entirely of course, and I can't think of a way round that if it happens, apart from your right to a lawyer and fair trial of course.
Would I have passed her by ?
Depends on several factors....number of strangers I could see acting suspicious and waiting to jump out and car jack the vehicle, whether someone else was attending to her, whether I was late for a meeting and whether the chair would believe my story or not.
So saying, I have stopped to move a large St. Bernard from the middle of the road, that was sitting there quite happily. This was in a leafy lane between rural villages. He had a tag, with his address on. I read it and knew the house. Probably one of the biggest houses I have ever seen (excluding Buck Palace of course!). I went up...rang the bell to the gates...no joy. So I had some rope, tied him to the gates, rang the cops, reported the house and dog, and left.
I drove past about an hour later and the dog was gone and a RR Phaeton was in the drive. I stopped and rang the intercom. A mockney voice said "yer ?"
I said "I handed in your dog, I take it you found him. Is he ok ?"
The voice said "He's Fine", and then the intercom went dead. No word of thanks at all.
Next time I see the dog loose, I'm half-tempted not to bother. But to be fair, it's not the doggies fault. I might report them to the RSPCA though.
The other time also involved a dog. But I didn't stop. It was 12.30 am on a deserted country road that ran through a Traveller's Camp either side of the road. I thought it best not to try and explain why I had hit some traveller's dog which ran off limping. I did drive straight to the plod though and reported it (as you must do if you hit a dog). The constable agreed that stopping in the middle of a traveller's camp at midnight, in the middle of nowhere, was not a good idea. He also mentioned that several of their animals were always causing RTA's.
I'd like to say I'd take my chances with a dog over a human being, but as shown above, even that does not follow an absolute unfortunately.
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