San Francisco Bay, view from helicopter

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That headline would be a lot more funny if it weren’t true. According to MSNBC a man waded into San Francisco Bay threatening to kill himself. He walked into the water until he was neck deep. Would be rescuers watched for nearly an hour until he died and then someone finally pulled him out of the water. The would be rescuers were firefighters and police who were not permitted to attempt a rescue because of budget cuts which eliminated water rescues. There were about 75 onlookers as well.

What the fuck is wrong with people?

Apparently the man inched out from the shore but kept looking back, presumably to see if anyone was going to try to stop him from taking his own life.

No one did.

I repeat – What the fuck is wrong with people?

It’s unbelievable that fire fighters and police wouldn’t step in, and blaming the incident on budget cuts is deplorable, but I would have thought one of the 75 onlookers would have DONE THE RIGHT THING and walked out and dragged the guy back to shore.

To add insult to injury – a witness to this horrible incident finally did brave the waters, after 54 minutes and the guy was face down in the water for some time, and pulled him back. What, he couldn’t have gone in the water 20 minutes earlier and pulled him back?

I don’t understand people anymore. Not that I ever did really but I always believed that if another human needed help one of us would be there. I know I would. We hear stories of people risking their lives for animals stuck in wells and other peril all the time and yet no one could walk into the water to pull this man out?

I’m not buying the budget cuts excuse. I take that back, I buy it but it pisses me off. We have too many rules and regulations to follow these days and I suppose we can blame the lawyers who sue for things like hot coffee and all that, as well as all the lawmakers who pass these stupid laws. Now they are trying to get a law on the books to prevent this kind of thing.

What happened to compassion and human decency? What happened to helping out your fellow man (or woman) in need? Why do we need laws to tell us to do the right thing?

 

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