# Wrong train



## Olly Buckle (Apr 29, 2010)

Leaving my car in Herne Hill I went to Victoria to meet a friend, coming back I got on the wrong train and ended up in West Dulwich. walking round the corner to get a bus back I came across a man of about thirty lying on the pavement. Everyone was walking past and the half dozen or so people at the bus stop were taking no notice so I stopped and shook his shoulder. There was no response and he didn't smell of drink so I dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance. While I was waiting he had a brief spasm and then started banging his head against the pavement, I cushioned his head with my hands and he came round a bit and mumbled something about epilepsy, then kept repeating that I was 'a nice man, a very nice man'. The ambulance arrived very promptly, King's hospital is only across the way, and I left them to it, but I was glad I got on that wrong train, how do people live with themselves ignoring things like that?


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## Red_Venus (Apr 29, 2010)

Wow. First off, you are my unsung hero for the day. Second, it is a good thing you took the wrong train (I don't believe in accidents). Third, I have no idea how people can be so heartless, but it's out there every day. People can be cruel, which makes the souls like you just that much more blessed to have around.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 29, 2010)

The way I see it Red I had a little adventure, the rest of them missed out.


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## Red_Venus (Apr 29, 2010)

Quite right, and in the course of it, managed to save a life. Kudos to you.


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## alanmt (Apr 29, 2010)

Olly, that's fantastic!  There needs to be more people like you and less like all those other people.  

We had a recent case here where a guy died after he was stabbed rescuing a woman from a mugging and lay on the ground for hours dying while people walked by.


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## Red_Venus (Apr 29, 2010)

alanmt said:


> Olly, that's fantastic! There needs to be more people like you and less like all those other people.
> 
> We had a recent case here where a guy died after he was stabbed rescuing a woman from a mugging and lay on the ground for hours dying while people walked by.


 
I think I actually saw a video of that somewhere. You'd think it was impossible, and yet it happens probably a lot more often than we'd care to know.


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## moderan (Apr 29, 2010)

Hurrah for you, Olly. You're my hero for the day


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## Like a Fox (Apr 29, 2010)

Recently a guy got stabbed 8 times at a busy train station during peak morning time. The stabber got away because no one did anything.
In my school you would've received The Good Samaritan Award for sure Olly. (We had those.)


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## KangTheMad (Apr 29, 2010)

Jeez, all these orange names and no regular ones? What happened to the community here? 

Anyhow, that is a really amazing and good thing you did today. Not many people go out of their way to help a homeless man they see everyday on the streets. Kudos to you, olly.


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## Eluixa (Apr 30, 2010)

Thank you Olly, from someone who's very good friend has and could easily again be in that same situation, needing a good person to help her.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 30, 2010)

I don't think it was as dramatic as saving his life Red. he was coming round a bit by the time the ambulance arrived, and I don't think he was homeless Kang, he was in jeans and a jacket but quite respectable looking. Thanks for all the kind comments every one, but I really do feel such things are their own reward. I slightly pity the people who are so afraid of life they don't take part in it, sometimes life gets so full on they don't have time to be afraid any more and they spend the rest of their lives talking about "The spirit of the blitz" or "The Dunkirk spirit" wishing for that back when all they really need is to smile and say "Hello" to people they would normally pass by.
 I love your signature by the way Eulixa, always been one of my favourite sayings.


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## silverwriter (Apr 30, 2010)

Good on you for being a true human being. This reminds me of a story I heard in the news recently. A man who stopped another man from raping a girl in New York got stabbed for his trouble. He died lying there on the pavement bleeding to death. It was all caught on camera - even people taking pictures of the man with their phone.

Who would have thought that it would be such a compliment to be called a decent human being?


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## Olly Buckle (May 1, 2010)

> Who would have thought that it would be such a compliment to be called a decent human being?



Exactly.


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## Tom (May 1, 2010)

I'd just be mimicking the sort of thing everyone else has said Olly. Doubtless to how modest you might be, if you ask me, you saved his life. How many other people would have walked past?

It sickens me to think I might be one of those people. You're an inspiration.


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## virginia (May 2, 2010)

Well done, Olly. I don't live far from that area and, though I don't get out any more, I'd like to think I would have helped (actually did, in a simiar incident years ago) and - more importantly now - so would my son. I hope so.

You were a guardian angel to that gentleman (poor soul), Olly. And yes, it is a damned shame more people aren't more caring about others.

What can you do?

Virginia


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## Ilasir Maroa (May 2, 2010)

Good for you, Olly.  Diffusion of responsibility is a bitch, and I'm glad someone was there who wasn't in thrall of it.


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## spider8 (May 2, 2010)

I remember when I was seventeen and I was walking down Union St in Aberdeen (A crowded street full of rush-hour workers toing and froeing), I came across an elderly gentleman in a smart suit, lying on the pavement, to my eyes asleep. I thought, 'that's odd'. I slowed my walk for a moment and looked around at everyone else. Everyone was glancing down but walking on. It was as if this man lying there was the most natural thing in the world. I wondered why he was lying there as I walked on, embarrassed at being seen to be 'not in the know'. I wondered why everyone was ignoring him. I felt a bit stupid at my naivety for almost stopping for that moment. I know I thought about him all day and regretted not stopping. This has influenced me in later life to sometimes, when the need arises, call the police, call the fire service, not expect others to do it or to expect others to have already done it.

I think it's more complex than selfish bastards walking past, uncaring. But well done, Olly.


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## Like a Fox (May 2, 2010)

When I was in my early teens the secondary phone line in my house, rang. We used that phone for the internet, very rarely to make calls, and no one had the number, so it was weird.
I picked it up and the man said he wanted to talk to someone. I said he probably had the wrong number. He told me that he'd been trying to call help lines and they were all long waits, and he just needed someone to listen to him, he said he wasn't doing too good.

I said I was very sorry and I had to run out the door. I hope I wished him good luck, but I don't think I did.
As soon as I hung up I wondered why I didn't just stay on the line and talk to this man. I've been plagued by the idea that he might have killed himself then and there and I could have just had a chat with him that might've made the difference. 
I'll never know, of course.


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## Olly Buckle (May 3, 2010)

"Diffusion of responsibility" is a good term Ilasir, it reminds me of something Bertrand Russell once said about morality being in a direct inverse proportion to the number of people involved.


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## Ilasir Maroa (May 3, 2010)

Olly Buckle said:


> "Diffusion of responsibility" is a good term Ilasir, it reminds me of something Bertrand Russell once said about morality being in a direct inverse proportion to the number of people involved.


 

I didn't come up with it myself unfortunately: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_responsibility

And more specific to this situation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_effect


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## Olly Buckle (May 3, 2010)

Coming up with it is not the important bit, it is having a concept to work with that empowers us. I remember when I was 16 coming home from a CND demo and saying how good it felt being with that many like minded people, my father looked serious and said that I should be careful of that, it was the same feeling experienced at the Nuremberg rallies. It really struck home, I have always tried to think for myself in crowd situations since, right down to distracting myself by whistling in supermarkets so I don't join the mind numbed.


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## Cressida (May 4, 2010)

Being currently a resident of London, I read this post with sadness but without a hint of surprise. Perhaps I am being unfair to London and this inability to connect with one's fellow man is something which afflicts all cities, but it is particularly noticeable here. People never make eye contact and live in a little bubble which protects them from the world around them. Crikey imagine if this had happened on the Victoria Line at rush hour, the poor chap would have been still there. Well done.


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## The Backward OX (May 4, 2010)

[ot]





Olly Buckle said:


> I have always tried to think for myself in crowd situations since, right down to distracting myself by whistling in supermarkets so I don't join the mind numbed.


You'll have to forgive me for being both off-topic and naïve, but what is it about a supermarket that makes one mind-numbed?
And do you include venues such as Glastonbury in that generalisation? :evil:
[/ot]


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## Patrick (May 4, 2010)

Olly Buckle said:


> right down to distracting myself by whistling in supermarkets so I don't join the mind numbed.



Disturbing the peace. They'll have you for that.


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## Olly Buckle (May 5, 2010)

The Backward OX said:


> [ot]
> You'll have to forgive me for being both off-topic and naïve, but what is it about a supermarket that makes one mind-numbed?
> And do you include venues such as Glastonbury in that generalisation? :evil:
> [/ot]



I am not certain but I think the sort of arrangements that stimulate people to buy unthinkingly are not dissimilar to those used for trance induction, certainly one can deliberately bump into people and they will say "sorry" on automatic.
Yes I would include anywhere. If I go with the crowd it is going to be because I have decided I want to, or perhaps because I am leading them.:wink:


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## MsLokita (May 9, 2010)

Sounds like you took the right train at the right time!  I believe in coincidence - and divine coincidence!  And of course, you were the RIGHT person - at the right place - at the right moment!  I'm glad you shared this because we all need reminders to be the person that takes action in a time of need.

MsL.


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## blackthorn (May 15, 2010)

Damn, that's a really moving story! Thumbs up to you, man!


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