Blog 3 Why People Don't Help in a Crisis

2) Interpret and explain in your own words the authors’ statement, “It’s a rare traveler who, in picking a roadside restaurant, chooses to stop at one where no other cars appear in the parking lot” (419).

The author included this proverb to extend the thinking process when reading this essay. He uses the traveler to related him to a regular person. No one special just a standard human being and relates the restaurant to anything we experience during out lifetime whether it be a crisis like the ones in the passage or an opportunity. The parking lot is used in reference to our personal conformity to the world around us. Conformity is defined as action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices. It takes self esteem and confidence to take the road less travelled or, "the restaurant where no other cars appear in the parking lot."
I recently watched a show whose topic was very similar to this essay. There was an experiement done where a man wearing torn clothing like he was homeless fell down on a busy side walk with a beer can in his hand. He did not move or ask for help but laid there in the middle of the day for all to see. He laid there for several minutes in silence with others staring at him until a homeless woman came over to try and wake him up. After attempting to wake him up for several minutes she stood over top of his body to protect him, threw away the beer can and asked people that walked by to call 911 from their cell phone. She begged people for another 20 minutes before one lady called 911. It was amazing to watch these seemingly rich people look down upon this man and how they completely igored the homeless woman who was trying to help.