Tuesday started out like any other day. A long day here at PV for me (never take a day and an evening class while working in the same day), but I thought nothing of it. It wasn't until I stepped off of the elevators in the Campus Center that my view of the student body here changed and the realization that death can come for anyone anywhere smacked me across the face.

While walking through the cafeteria, still holding copies from an errand in my hand, I noticed a groundskeeper, or possibly a maintenance man, squatting over someone on the floor shouting "Go get security!" The entire room was under a tense silence that I hadn't noticed upon entering, no hacky sack, no gossiping, no eating, and no hair braiding. All eyes were on the guy on the ground and the PV employee who shouted for help.

As people muttered meaningless words like "Is he okay?" and "What happened?" they stood motionless. As if this human being on the ground was requesting their audience over their aid. Whether they stood there out of shock, or fear, the bottom line is they stood there.

Students on the first floor gawked downward at the scene as if they had balcony seats to a ballet. Pointing and whispering amongst themselves, iced lattes forgotten for the moment, watching as one of them lay helpless on the cafeteria floor. Once the medics arrived at the scene they had to move through the crowd in order to get to the person on the floor, who in their time of need served as an interruption to his fellow classmates’ ordinary routine, and nothing more.

The fact that no one thought to go for help is frightening. What would've happened had it been you, or me? Would we have been so lucky as to hold out for help, or would we have died on the floor of this institution of higher learning that we've come to know as our school? Would your classmates have watched you take your last breath, while peering at you over their pancakes and waffles?

As someone who does not deal with death and illness well, I can understand not wanting to get involved. However, when someone drops to the ground in front of you are involved no matter what. Making sure that person gets help is your responsibility. You can’t just wait there for someone who is better equipped to deal with these sorts of things to walk by. You have to act, or someone could die.

The fact that something like this can happen at school is scary, but it doesn’t give us an excuse to stand there and watch what could’ve been someone’s last moments. We all get the impression that we’re safe at PV. We come to know professors by first names, carry on conversations with random staff, and are constantly surrounded by other students that just want to make it through the semester. A lot of us spend more time here than we like to and come to begrudgingly view it as a second home. We forget that we’re mortal and that death can find us anywhere. We’ve wrapped ourselves in our own little cocoon and refuse to understand that bad things can happen anywhere. So, when someone falls to the floor we don’t respond.

I’m not telling you to walk around campus expecting for someone to seizure and collapse in front of you. However, I am asking you to use your daytime minutes to get someone help should they need it. Maybe just go to the nearest office and say “Hey, I think the guy on the floor out there might need an ambulance.” Anything is better than watching and hoping for the best. Trust me, if you do nothing you’ll feel a hell of a lot worse later than if you had gotten help.

Tell us what you think. Write Spectrum at editor@mcckc.edu.

Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College