Why dont more people help?

[sleek]

A kid was drowning at the beach today.  His mother ran frantically to the water pointing and yellimg for help. Everybody at the beach just sat there and watched her without moving a muscle. Evertine except for two men who appeared to be military. They ran in and pulled the 11 year old out the waves that had made it impossible for the boy to recover his breath or touch bottom. All while people sat and watched like it was a tv show infront their eyes. Thanks to two men who dissapeared as heros often do, I still have my son to hug and tell bim I love him. I may never know who they were to care for my son while I was at work, but I have no doubt that I know the type if men they are. If prayers send blessings, may they have all of mine. 

The disturbing part is why didnt the entire beach jump to action? They heard the screams and saw my son trying to stay up in the breakers. Curse them.  Every worthless last one of them. Worthless, non human scum. How can peiple stand by? How? It infuriates me. Two people out of a 40ish people cared. Two. The rest, brain dead.

[jaxenro]

How many of the idiots filmed it

We have raised a voyeuristic society of imbeciles where most of them wouldn't know what to do anyway

[bjrogg]

So glad there where two men who didn't need to be told what to do Sleek. So glad you still have your son to hug and tell him you love him. So glad his mother didn't have to watch in horror what could have happened with out them. Bless them and their loved ones.
Bjrogg

[PatM]

The bystander effect is real, google it. You have to realize that heroes are more rare than people who excel at anything else. All you can do is hope that there is one or two in every large crowd

Glad your son is OK.

[YosemiteBen]

First and Foremost I am glad your son is physically ok.
Emotional hardship may not be readily evident. I almost drowned more than 30 ya. I still hate being in water over my head.
I drive a river canyon on my way to and from work. If there is a car in the river - I will stop and send someone else to a phone. If there is an accident and people are stopped I will continue on and not add to the chaos!
People are as scared as you are - they don't necessarily know what to do. They also may not be able. In this day and age - they may be just plain unwilling or lazy.
Why do the "heros" disappear after a rescue? They are not really protected by the "Good Samaritan" laws anymore. For instance.... break a rib during CPR - save the persons life and get sued for use of excessive force...
Not in My Backyard syndrome - I do not know them - why do I need to help or care?
Car broke down - sorry I can't/won't help... you might be a car jacker staging to take my car. or be a robber waiting to rob me.
In California it might just not be physically safe for you to help. Average speed on California hwys is nearly 80 mph or greater despite posted speed limits!
I do not really know the why, I can only speculate based on my experiences and the instances where I have stopped to help or been involved in a rescue/recovery situation at work.
Love your son - refocus the anger - pray you would be able to do the same for someone else!
Prayers for you and yours!

[willie]

 ............watched like it was a tv show.

many people will not be cognizant of an unfolding tragedy until they experience firsthand a similar loss. perhaps the constant portrayal of tragedy as entertainment, has something to do with that. More importantly,  most drownings are not easy to spot.

If you're like most people, you've never heard of the instinctive drowning response. Most of us think that a drowning person will call for help, arms waving and splashing. According to Dr. Francesco A. Pia, these signs show aquatic distress, which occurs before the instinctive drowning response.

People who are drowning typically:

    Are not able to yell for help because they are trying to breathe
    Are unable to wave their arms
    Cannot keep their mouth from sinking below the water's surface

The lack of noise and activity tricks people who are not trained to recognize the instinctive drowning response. They don't realize what is actually happening. Unfortunately, when a person reaches this stage, they can fight drowning for only 20 to 60 seconds.

What to look for

How will you know whether someone is drowning? Watch for the following signals:

    Gasping
    Not kicking their legs
    Body is vertical in the water
    Eyes are glassy or closed
    Mouth is at or below the water
    Mouth is open and head tilted back
    Trying to climb in the water

Call to the person and ask if they are okay. If they are in the instinctive drowning response stage, they will most likely be unable to answer you because they are trying to breathe.

glad all turned out well for your family

[JEB]

IMHO it is a lack of military experience which causes gawkers to exist.  I wonder if the two heroes are former military. I know  I conduct myself much differently since my stint in the marines and I think it showed on my job with the P.D.  We actually had  officers hold back or drive around the block rather than beat an ambulance to a medical call. Their response was always, that is  not my job. They really got upset when I help set up an updated CPR classes for all employees.  My wife was an instructor and she cleared it with the hospital to do it t no charge. There were very few prior military on the department at the time.

[Parnell]

Very glad he is ok.

What you are saying is normal.  People simply don't realize to respond unless they have been trained so it becomes a reaction like learning how to tumble or protecting yourself when someone yells get down or hit the deck.  Not stopping to gawk.

When I was a teenager I worked as a lifeguard, so you are trained to react in the certification.  Once you are trained your brain is triggered to respond.  It really isn't the crowds fault, they are just untrained.  This is why military people react.  First responders react.  Others won't.  Our brains are wired in certain ways...

[Eric Krewson]

Here is another take on your situation, people don't know what to do, they really don't.

I was walking at a local exercise trail through the woods and ran into a frantic old man who said his buddy had a bad bike wreck, the old man said he didn't know what to do.

I sprinted down a steep hill to find the guy on his side wrapped up in a bike. He had apparently hit his front brake and went face first over the handle bars and face planted the asphalt at a pretty good rate of speed while riding down the steep hill. He was a mess, part of his nose was gone, his face looked like Mike Tyson sucker punched him a few times, lots of cuts, blood and extreme swelling. He was combative, didn't know his name or what happened so I suspected brain injury.

People had started to gather so I directed them to call 911 and told them the exact location we were at, I didn't have a phone, no one offered to help. I stabilized him, held his neck rigid, calmed him down and waited for first res-ponders, after all I had been a boy scout and had first aid merrit badge. I had also had a lot of training in the army and at my job in a power plant on handling injury cases. I knew what to do, I took charge of the situation.

The injured guy was later life flighted for a possible brain injury but I never found out his outcome or saw him or his buddy again. He wasn't wearing a bike helmet.

When the guy's old friend told me he didn't know what to do and later when the crowd gathered I realized I was the only one there that did know what to do out of the 7 or 8 people who stood by gawking.

Sleek, the military guys were probably the only ones there that knew exactly what to do and had the confidence in themselves to take action.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Who was responsible for him being there and what role did they play in all this?

[Ed Brooks]

Glad to hear your son is ok.

[sleek]

Who was responsible for him being there and what role did they play in all this?

Fair question. My wife was watching him wade througj the surf. A wave knocked him over and drug him under. She didnt see him pop back up and couldnt find him. By time she heard him screaming he was 100 yards away. She wasnt careless, the waters weren't rough up to that point,  it all just hit and happened at once.

[sleek]

After all this, i dont want my son to be one of those people to stupid to react. Seems boy scouts helped Eric Krewson in that situation, so, off to the scouts my son will go. And probably gonna find a ymca and get him in swimming classes. I want my son to be able to make a difference if needed. In my life, as often as I have found myself useful in helping others, i would bet everyone will find themselves needed at some point. I dont want him to find himself unprepared.

[willie]

that sounds like a good plan, training gives the ability to access when help is called for and the confidence to act.

hope you do not mind the digression about "instinctive drowning response", as I know that is not exactly what happened to your son  yesterday.

[Del the cat]

Idiots come in all types.
Every year in the UK we get people dying 'cos they've gone out on ice to "rescue" a dog...
The dog usually survives 'cos it didn't need "rescuing" anyway 

Don't judge them too hard or let it eat you up, many people just wouldn't realise what was going on, or weren't strong enough swimmers. There are a lot of people who go in to help and end up drowning too, or making matters worse.
The important thing is your son survived  ... my son is alive due to prompt help from people close at hand who knew what to do and a hopital close at hand.
Del