Walking down the street, I saw an
older lady wearing a brown
floral dress, and her pink slip (
petticoat) was showing below. I knew I had to tell her. It was such a
moral conundrum. Do I tell her and
risk embarrassing her and me also, or do I allow her to walk on
oblivious to the fact whilst others saw her? My mind raced, as I weighed up the
pros and cons. My
chivalrous duty
vs the risk of
embarrassment. I considered this, posing
arguments for and against in my mind, playing out the different
scenarios until I was far enough down the street
not to worry any more. It was
out of my jurisdiction by then - let it be somebody else's
problem.
Why did it effect me enough to warrant writing it up to be judged by an international community?
Empathy.
Put yourself in the same situation as that person: If I were walking down the street with a huge booger hanging out of my nose, or my fly undone baring my wares to the public, I'd appreciate a quiet word in the ear to find out, rather than relying on the quiet sniggers and people collapsing around me in gales of laughter to find out.
Perhaps as a people, if we were to throw caution to the wind and show a little courtesy to our fellow travellers on this autobahn of life, we'd all feel a little more comfortable around one another without stressing that our bits are showing, or we have lunch stuck in the corners of our mouths.
Perhaps I should go and find her and tell her. Walk up to her puffing and panting and say "I've been looking for you everywhere to tell you - oh... you've found out, never mind."