The Unintended Consequences of Minding Your Business
Something happened a couple of days back that was caught on camera that made me ask myself a question of what I would do if I was in that situation.
So there was this video circulating online where a guy who stays not too far away from where I live was filming a group of Fulani/Hausa men who were on their bikes in large numbers and looked like they were on the run. At the time, he had no idea what was going on, and we could hear him thinking aloud, asking why this people could possibly be on the run.
Towards the end of the video, we could see some of these men jump down from their bikes and approach this guy, asking him why he was filming them, because the video was abruptly ended.
We later found out that he had been beaten up by this people and according to him, no one around came to his rescue, which isn't something new around here. People tend to take "Minding their business” to the next level around here and would ignore even if they see you getting robbed in broad daylight.
But then I had asked myself what I would do if I was among those onlookers, if I had rushed to the guy's aid or ignored like the rest of them. And sadly, I didn't like the answer I came up with because I most likely wouldn't have intervened.
You see, as a kid, I was trained by my parents never to get involved when I see two people fighting and to always stay far away. I believed they taught me that to keep me safe, and unfortunately (or fortunately) that training has remained with me for the most part of my life.
But is that the right way to do things? Should we stand and watch while a fellow human being is being beaten up for no reason?
We all know the answer to that question, and I'm sure that if we were in that guy's shoes, and we were the ones being attacked, we would have wished that everyone or anyone had got involved and saved us from these people. Unfortunately, this is the situation of things here and when found in these situations, the only thing you can do for yourself is run or risk getting badly hurt, if not worse, by them.
The same is true in my country as well. Parents encourage their children to not get involved in anything outside the house and be as inactive as possible. And this culture has led to people getting unalived in broad daylight in the middle of the street with nobody coming forward.
It's crazy. But as a parent, giving your children such advice isn't entirely a bad thing because you're trying to protect them. So what then should we do?
So we protect our kids by giving them such advise, or should we advice them to help, at the risk of them getting injured?
It's a tough decision.
I believe it's a more deeply rooted problem than just parents giving advices to their children. If the society itself is not safe enough for people to freely exercise their movements and it is not educated enough to understand between right and wrong, a parent's advice can always backfire if certain situations arrive.
I would not take my step forward if someone getting robbed in daylight unless I have a pistol with me. So that at least I can protect me or frightens the robbers.
As I don't have any pistol with me. So, I won't try to help because it's equal to bringing trouble for myself.
But what if you're the one getting robbed and you see people just going about their business. I'm sure you would wish they could help.
Does it matter? If another person comes to help, he will also be robbed. The person shouldn't come to help me even if I want so.
Sometimes it does matter.. It all depends on who comes to help.
It will feel better to be robbed together😅😅. At least I won't be the only one in that case. !lol