Would you have helped?

@fpd1955 (2074)
United States
August 24, 2007 10:32am CST
Yesterday my partner and I were out shopping. We got caught, while in the store, in a torrential rainstorm with 80 mile per hour winds and severe lightning. We saw a woman in the parking lot with her hardtop down trying to drive out of the lot. She couldn't see because the storm was so bad. She was moving her car around to try to not have the wind blowing the rain in her face. She parked in the lot and sat in her car, storm and all! In the store, we were discussing that she should go to the bank drive-up and park under the overhang. Only one of the brave souls (not me) in the store ran out to where she was parked, towards the farthest end of the lot, to tell her to do this, which she did. The lightning was so severe and dangerous, it was touching the ground around the parking lot. Would you have gone out to try to help this woman?
2 people like this
14 responses
• United States
24 Aug 07
This is a good question. I'm quite certain I would think about helping her. Whether or not I would actually have the courage to brave the lightening is a different story. It would probably depend on how severe the lightening was. To go into a situation where there is a high likelihood of me getting hit by lightening would do her no good. It kind of like jumping in to save someone drowning if you don't know how to swim yourself. Nothing is gained from that.
@fpd1955 (2074)
• United States
24 Aug 07
Yeah, I did think about helping her, but with the lightning touching the ground around the parking lot and ankle deep water to boot, I was concerned for my own safety. The woman that did go out to tell her where to move her car claimed she loved the rain. However, this was more than just rain, it was a dangerous storm and she could have been hit by lightning. Thank the HP that she returned to the store safe and the woman in the car got to safety. PEACE
1 person likes this
@Grandmaof2 (7579)
• Canada
25 Aug 07
This would be a hard call, for me the answer comes easy. No I would not. I am not able to move fast enough to save myself let alone help anyone else. I wouldn't have been much help but I would have asked at customer service or asked someone if there was anything that could have been done for her. I'm happy someone did help her. Take Care.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
25 Aug 07
I don't really care if I get wet in the rain and the chances of being struck by lightning are about one in nine million so I would definitely have considered going out to help her. Where I work, we once were watching a severe storm outside and noticed a convertible in the parking lot, a really expensive one, just filling up with rain water. I have seen that before too, I wonder how that affects the car other than the obvious?
1 person likes this
@fpd1955 (2074)
• United States
25 Aug 07
Actually, don't you think those odds go down when the conditions are such as they were that day? As a matter of fact, 3 people waiting at a busstop in Madison, Wisconsin were all struck by lightning and killed just a few days go. There was water and lightning involved. PEACE
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
25 Aug 07
Oh sure. That's the odds for everybody, including the stupid people who go out golfing or hide under trees or play in the lightning. So if you took out the stupid people, I am sure that the odds would be much better of avoiding lightning strikes. Still, sometimes you gotta play the odds.
• China
24 Aug 07
Perhaps i would.i don't know.sometimes i help someone even when i was in bad situation,but sometimes i may just sit by and see they suffered.i don't know myself very well. i think it depends on what mood i'm in.
2 people like this
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
24 Aug 07
It depends on the situation, I can only mentally recreate the situation to such detail. I probably would have gone out there and helped, I do it several time when I see some major problems. I guided a person out of a lot when three other cars had parked and land locked her in (we used the sidewalk and some luck). I jumped a car when it was 1:30 am. I know I take risks everytime, but I take calculated risks. I knew the parked car would only be a minor issue, and the night breakdown, I was able to do because I was armed and prepared, three over. I can understand people's hesitance to help others (I've seen plenty of stories where people were brutalized or killed outright, just for trying to help a fellow human being...) things just aren't the same as they were in the past. I still can find the right combination of courage, calm and kindness to help others when the need arises. Of course I don't go crazy either (usually when law enforcement, safety authorities show up, I will cease unless told not to).
2 people like this
@rkatb1 (3)
25 Aug 07
I would have. I would want someone to help me if I were in that situation. I'd feel really bad if people were just watching me suffering. Once I was on side of road and had a flat tire. I didn't know how to change it. A cop drove by and just kept going. He didn't even stop to see if I was ok. This was in a small town too. Well.. just out side of it where there were only business buildings. But it looked like out in the country. But I'm really compassionate. I can't stand to see someone in trouble and not do anything about it.
@fpd1955 (2074)
• United States
31 Aug 07
That's awful that the cop just drove by you. Unbelievable, actually! The least he could have done was call for help if he/she didn't want to get their hands dirty. PEACE
@NewHeart (528)
• Canada
25 Aug 07
not in a heartbeat would i have gone out in a bad lightning storm i've been hit by lightning many years back and believe me its something you never forget. she was safe in her car as she was not grounded so unlikely car would have gotten struck and even if it did wouldn't hurt anything. well might have fried radio son lost his afew years back...
1 person likes this
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
25 Aug 07
To be honest no I would not. Im deathly afraid of lightening. When its lightening I will go in my bedroom draw all the blinds and get under the comfortor with my cat.LOL So thats how bad I am.LOL
@smacksman (6053)
25 Aug 07
No. I'd have waited for a lightning strike to put her out of her misery and take her genes out of society and do us all a favour. Stupidity like that is best nipped in the bud. haha But seriously, yes, I am a sucker for women in distress and would probable gone and guided her to safety. The rain is not a problem after all. I mean you get wet and then you get dry. But lightning is dangerous.
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Aug 07
I think I would have gone out to help her. It sounds like she was not aware of the danger she was in. I always think about the fact that if I were in that situation I would hope that there would be someone that would take the time to help me out. I realize that it was dangerous for the person who went out to help her. I do believe in situations like that there are guardian angels that protect the person helping.
• Denmark
25 Aug 07
Sorry :) I would feel sorry for the woman, but that is all. I think the person doiing this is pretty brave, not for the danger of lightning, that does not bother me, but for the danger of catchine pneumonia.
1 person likes this
@dimaks (786)
• Japan
24 Aug 07
maybe i would have helped. it depends on the situation you know. if i ever be in that event, i would try to sneak out and lend a hand. i certainly would not want to witness her getting ripped by the bad storm.
1 person likes this
• United States
25 Aug 07
Almost certainly not. I don't go out in storms unless I absolutely have to. And this was not one of those situations. She should have known that if you drive a convertible in the rain, you only get wet if you stop, otherwise you are protected by the aerodynamics of the vehicle. She needed to move it.
1 person likes this
• China
25 Aug 07
I think I am not a kind people. If I meet somebody who need help, maybe I can't help them. But when a people likes to help people, we think he is a hero. We all like kind people. We should learn something from him.
1 person likes this