Saturday, May 17, 2008
♥ 8:00 PM
If You Saw a Lost Child, What Would You Do?
An ABC News Experiment Tests Unknowing Passersby With an Ethical Dilemma
By KRISTIN S. PISARCIK
Imagine you're on a busy sidewalk rushing to work, running an errand or simply out for a stroll, when suddenly you notice a little boy standing all alone. Is he really lost? Do you stop to find out?
To find out what people would do in this situation, ABC News hired four young actors, two boys and two girls, all 7 years old and dressed in everyday clothes. The children took turns standing on the corner of a well traveled street in a city near New York with various hidden cameras planted nearby.
Initially, we asked the children to stand in one place and look scared and frightened. Halle, the first actor to participate, walked out to the street corner and acted like a lost child, looking around for help with no guardian in site. A woman stopped almost immediately because, she said, she sees this sort of thing all the time. But this woman turned out to be the exception. Most people walked right on by. In fact, during our two-day experiment, almost 2,000 people walked by and only 47 stopped to help the "lost children."
The experiment continued with actor Alexis, who stood on the street corner acting lost and frightened. Several minutes pass, and many adults walked by, but no one stopped to help or even ask if she was OK.
"It is just not acceptable to walk past a child like that and do nothing," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and one of the people who helped design this experiment. "A young child on the sidewalk of any American city by themselves is vulnerable, they are at risk."
In fact, if a parent or caregiver leaves a small child alone on the street it could be a crime. Even so, back on the sidewalk minutes ticked by, and one stranger after another walked by the "lost" child. "People are so preoccupied on their cell phones or paying attention to other things, or in a hurry to get somewhere else." Allen said.
Would gender make a difference in how people respond? Would more people stop if the "lost" kids were boys?
ABC News sent Robert out on the street to find out.
Once again, many people passed him. Some were reading books, and others just walked on by.
I found this article in a forum. and found it quite disturbing. and this is not even the worse. let's look at some of e comments..
i would probably leave a lost boy/girl alone as i might be mistaken for a paedophile :(
and you know how adament other people may be about that matter.
17 May 2008 11:43 am
no, i wont bother to stop.
its his/her fault for wandering away from his/her parents.
waste of my time as well.
This is super disturbing can? where has all our hearts gone to? study? work? wad's worse is dat these comments were posted by students! wad has become of our youths nowadays? anyway, my purpose for blogging is not to criticise these people but to relate this to evangelism.
We've heard in church time and time again that what's true in e natural is also true in the spiritual. there're thousands and millions of children of God lost in the streets of the world today. are we going to be like the passers-by, pretending not to see them, too preoccupied with "serving God"? are we gonna be like the 1st person who commented? who cares bout wad others think of us more than wad God thinks of us? or are we gonna be like the 2nd person who commented? who heck cares by blaming the lost for not accepting Christ? if that's the case then it makes no difference between us and those heartless people!
Come on guys! our skin needs to get thicker and our hearts, thinner. There're people out there who needs Jesus! let's not be complacent or negligent in winning the lost, but go all out to be fruitful laborers for Christ!
Matt 9:37-38
He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
