Apathy, numbness or ... ?

Imagine yourself, lying in a pool of your own blood, in a 7Eleven outlet, your consciousness fading, and nobody even bothered to help you. How do you feel about that?

Now, try to imagine that happening to your son, daughter, husband, wife, brother, sister, father or mother? Better, imagine it happened to each of your family member. How do you feel about that?

As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over her. I can only imagine what was going on in her mind before she died. Probably this, "Help me... Help me... Help me... I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!" (taken from one of the goriest episode of "Ghost Hunt", a Japanese anime about paranormal). Let's hope that she didn't turn into an evil spirit and haunt the convenience store as well as those 5 bloody shoppers.

This is what's happening in America. And guess what, America is the land of emerging trends. Both good and bad. They already have the trend of bringing guns to school (looks like the Offsprings had made a prophecy in their song "Come Out and Play"), and shooting classmates as well as teachers. Malaysia has already caught that trend, but since we can't acquire guns as easy as Americans, we settled for samurai swords, parangs, and knives. Imagine if this new trend, being heartless and selfish, made its way here in Malaysia. With the crime rates getting higher and higher, we will have to wonder whether it is safe to be around anywhere. Even your own home can be a crime scene (remember the case where a couple was murdered in their home at Negeri Sembilan?). Then again, perhaps the trend has already made its way here. Though fortunately, we are slow to adapt.

My friends, we all know the Golden Rule, "Do to others what you wanted to be done to you". Apply it in all aspect of your life. You don't know when you'll be on the receiving end of it. If you see a road accident, don't stop your car and watch, or take the license plate number and go and buy a lottery ticket. Stop your car and help out. You never know when you'll be the accident victim later. If you see someone being snatched of his/her belongings, don't just stare. If it's possible to chase, give chase. If you can't, at least call the police. Sure, they can be a pain in the backside most of the time (the police, I mean), but do the right thing. Help out. You'll never know if one day you or your loved ones become a snatch-theft victim.

So remember, my friends. Do to others what you wanted to be done to you. Don't let the same fate that fell on LaShanda falls onto your loved ones, or even yourself.

Kansas Store Video Captures Five Shoppers Stepping Over Dying Stabbing Victim

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

WICHITA, Kan. — As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.

The June 23 situation, captured on the store's surveillance video, got scant news coverage until a columnist for The Wichita Eagle disclosed the existence of the video and its contents Tuesday.

Police have refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.

"It was tragic to watch," police spokesman Gordon Bassham said Tuesday. "The fact that people were more interested in taking a picture with a cell phone and shopping for snacks rather than helping this innocent young woman is, frankly, revolting."

The woman was stabbed during an altercation that was not part of a robbery, Bassham said. It took about two minutes for someone to call 911, he said.

Calloway, 27, died later at a hospital.

Two suspects have been arrested. A 19-year-old woman was charged with first-degree murder. Another suspect who turned himself in had not been charged as of Tuesday, the Sedgwick County prosecutor's office said.

The district attorney's office will have to decide whether any of the shoppers could be charged, Bassham said.

It was uncertain what law, if any, would be applicable. A state statute for failure to render aid refers only to victims of a car accident.

Eagle columnist Mark McCormick told The Associated Press he learned about the video when he called Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams to inquire about a phone call he had received from a reader complaining about a Police Department policy that requires emergency medical personnel to wait until police secure a crime scene before rendering aid. McCormick said Williams then unloaded on him about the shoppers in the stabbing case.

"This is just appalling," Williams told the newspaper. "I could continue shopping and not render aid and then take time out to take a picture? That's crazy. What happened to our respect for life?"