[Crimson Dynamo]

Ten days ago, I had spent a lovely 24 hours in Fowey, Cornwall, speaking at a
literary festival. I was returning home through London’s Charing Cross
Underground station when disaster struck. I was about to go through the gates
at the top of the escalators when I fell. Heavily. On my side.

I lay there for about a minute, slightly stunned, gathering myself. During that
time and the few minutes afterwards, not a single member of the public came
to my assistance, either to offer me comfort or to help me to my feet. Not one.
Obviously they all had places to go, people to see, but it was profoundly
saddening that noticing a fellow passenger in distress didn’t provoke a single
one of them to offer the hand of human kindness.

And then it got worse. The three London Underground staff who came to my
aid called an ambulance crew, as it became clear that I couldn’t stand. They
arrived, and while they gave me laughing gas to numb the pain, a crowd
formed and just gawped. It was “rubbernecking” at its most voyeuristic.

As the all-female ambulance crew and the superb Underground workers
proceeded to carry me up the stairs to the station exit, people kept trying to
push past, despite being asked to use another exit.

If you’re trying to get home, you’re in a hurry. I get that. But it was difficult
enough for the rescuers to carry a 17-stone man in a makeshift sedan chair
up the 30 steps to ground level without them having to battle through a
constant stream of people trying to squeeze past us.

What have we become when our own lives and priorities subsume the needs
of others? Have we really turned into a “walk on by” society, or was I just
unlucky?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...hered-to-help/