My Opinion of Humanity Was Just Destroyed by My Language Arts Teacher

Normally when I write on my blog, it's happy, uplifting, or funny (I like to think). However, I would like to take a moment to discuss something that really made me upset. This is a serious topic so I just ask you to bear with me for a moment as I tell you one of the saddest things I have ever heard.

So I recently in Language Arts my teacher made us read an article called "The Dying Girl That No One Helped" that pretty much destroyed my opinion of humanity. Now I recommend you take a moment to read this article, but if you are lazy, I will sum it up for you. You may decide to come back and read it after I summarize it for you.

Basically this girl named Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was walking to her home in New York early in the morning when she was attacked and stabbed by a man who had followed her home. She was stabbed again and again as the killer took at least half an hour to kill the poor girl. During this time, Kitty kept screaming and crying for help. The murderer left shortly after she started screaming, and came back a few minutes later to deliver the fatal blow.

Now, this seems like your typical, really depressing sad story. Except there was no reason Kitty Genovese should have died. At least 38 people witnessed the attack, to the point where one witness could even say that he/she saw the murderer sucking his thumb because he cut himself as he walked away. And yet, no one did anything until after the girl was dead. Kitty even recognized a witness and screamed to him by his name. He did nothing.

Now, I'm not saying that these people should have broke up the fight. I mean, the murderer had a weapon. But one call from the safety of someone's apartment would have probably saved Kitty. All someone needed to do was call the police the instant Kitty was first stabbed. And yet, because the witnesses didn't want to testify in court, no one did anything until the killer had left and Kitty was dead.

To be fair, one person did call out to the killer, telling him to leave the girl alone, but other than that nothing was done to save Kitty.

The point I'm trying to make here is because no one wanted to stand up for Kitty, she is now dead, and there is no way to bring her back. She was only 28 years old. She had her entire life ahead of her, and yet it was taken away from her because no one wanted to pick up their phones and call the police. I get that the murderer had a weapon and all, but the witnesses could have called the police from the safety of their own homes without anyone knowing it was them. And yes, if someone did call the police, there is no guarantee that Kitty would have survived, but she would have had a chance. No one was expecting someone to pull a Batman and run outside and beat up the murderer. All the police wanted was a phone call. ONE DARN PHONE CALL! Gosh world! Is it that hard to push 3 darn numbers on your phone! People heard this poor girl getting murdered and went back to bed!

What has humanity come to?

This article has seriously impacted my view on humanity. And by impacted I mean COMPLETELY DESTROYED! It's going to take a month's worth of happy stories to bring my opinion of humanity back to what it was. In fact, I don't think I will ever view the human race the same way again. We need to stand up for our fellow humans. Don't just sit there and watch things like this happen right in front of you and expect someone else to do something. Imagine if everyone thought the same thing as you did. No one would do anything. Yes it is good to prevent things from happening, but we also have to stop them when we see them. Things like bullying wouldn't happen if people stood up for their peers.

Moral of the story: If you see someone in need, please help them! Then, good karma will come your way and help you the next time you need help.

From my corner to yours,
Jennifer Whyskers