Assignment- If you have ever been involved in or witnessed a situation in which someone was in trouble, write a narrative essay about the incident. If people failed to help the person in trouble, explain why you think no one acted. If people did act, tell how. Be sure to account for your own actions. Also, make sure the essay contains at least two separate lines of dialogue, and be sure the punctuation follows the rules of the comma and semi-colon.
Essay-
For ten long minutes a group including myself stood around idly while two men fought. It was Bamboozle. An annual rain-or-shine, two-day music festival held in New Jersey. I remember, like it was yesterday. The concert starts around 10 A.M. and usually runs for 12 hours. It was about half way through, when my friend Louie and I decided to walk to another stage where the next band we wanted to see was playing.
When we got to the next stage the previous band was still playing and the crowd was huge. We decided to wait in the back until they finished. About halfway through their last song, I saw a man holding a teenager in a head-lock. He was dragging him towards me from the middle of the mosh pit. The man threw the teenager to the ground and started screaming at him. This drew everyone's attention that was in the general area. Before I knew it there was a circle of people around the two men. The older man was considerably larger. He looked as if he lifted weights everyday, whereas the teenager was scrawny. The teen had no chance, yet he stayed there, and took a beating. No one including myself seemed to try and stop the beating. Five to ten minutes went by and the teenager seemed like he had enough. He appeared as if he was going to give up. Out of nowhere, the man's girlfriend appeared. She started to kick the teenager while he was down. That's when I had enough. I started to head towards the girl kicking the teenager, but security wound up beating me to it (No pun intended).
For the rest of the day, all I thought about was this poor teenager getting beaten in front of a countless amount of people. I felt terrible. Why didn't I react, or get help? I guess, like the rest of the crowd I froze or was consumed by fear. Maybe I was just afraid to get involved. Take your pick. It could have been anyone or all of them. I really don't know. One thing was for sure, I wished I could go back in time and try to stop the fight before it got way out of hand.
Shortly after the fight was broken up, my friend twisted his ankle in a mosh pit. I carried him to the Medical Tent so they could examine him. I saw the teenager there, sitting on a cot. I walked over to him and said "I saw the fight from the beginning, and I'm sorry I didn't do anything to stop it." He accepted my apology and said, "If the situation was in reverse, I probably would have just stood there too." For the time being this made me feel better, but I can honestly say the fact that I didn't do anything still bothers me today. I still picture the woman kicking the teenager while he was down.
I remember in one of my Health classes during High School, we were learning CPR. Our teacher was telling us about how human beings are hesitant when someone is in distress. For instance, if someone is choking, people might be hesitant to perform the Heimlich maneuver or CPR. They feel there is a chance of hurting the person more than they already are. Depending on the person, if you crack a rib trying to perform CPR this could lead to a law suit. This is one reason people stand back and wait for someone else to help. I always looked down upon people like that, but after the incident at Bamboozle, I realized I did the same thing. I stood there and watched a fellow human being in trouble. Since then, I have made myself a promise to help people who are in need.
Good evening :)
As you did not describe what type of assistance you were seeking, I have made some general comments on the piece.
"For ten long minutes a group including myself stood around idly while two men fought. It was Bamboozle, a n annual rain-or-shine (Remove comma) two-day music festival held in New Jersey. I remember it like it was yesterday. The concert starts around 10 A.M. and usually runs for 12 hours. It was about half way through (Remove comma) when my friend Louie and I decided to walk to another stage where the next band we wanted to see was playing.
When we got to the next stage the previous band was still playing and the crowd was huge. We decided to wait in the back until they finished. About halfway through their last song, I saw a man holding a teenager in a head-lock. He was dragging him towards me from the middle of the mosh pit. The man threw the teenager to the ground and started screaming at him. This drew everyone's attention that was in the general area. Before I knew it there was a circle of people around the two men. The older man was considerably larger; h e looked as if he lifted weights everyday, whereas the teenager was scrawny. The teen had no chance, yet he stayed there (Remove comma) and took a beating. No one, including myself, seemed to try and stop the beating. Five to ten minutes went by and the teenager seemed like he had enough. He appeared as if he was going to give up. Out of nowhere, the man's girlfriend appeared. She started to kick the teenager while he was down. That's when I had enough. I started to head towards the girl kicking the teenager, but security wound up beating me to it (n o pun intended).
For the rest of the day, all I thought about was this poor teenager getting beaten in front of a countless amount of people. I felt terrible. Why didn't I react, or get help? I guess, like the rest of the crowd, I froze or was consumed by fear. Maybe I was just afraid to get involved. Take your pick. It could have been anyone or all of them. I really don't know. One thing was for sure, I wished I could go back in time and try to stop the fight before it got way out of hand.
Shortly after the fight was broken up, my friend twisted his ankle in a mosh pit. I carried him to the medical tent so they could examine him. I saw the teenager there, sitting on a cot. I walked over to him and said, "I saw the fight from the beginning, and I'm sorry I didn't do anything to stop it." He accepted my apology and said, "If the situation was in reverse, I probably would have just stood there too." For the time being this made me feel better, but I can honestly say the fact that I didn't do anything still bothers me today. I still picture the woman kicking the teenager while he was down.
I remember in one of my h ealth classes during high school , we were learning CPR. Our teacher was telling us about how human beings are hesitant when someone is in distress. For instance, if someone is choking, people might be hesitant to perform the Heimlich maneuver or CPR. They feel there is a chance of hurting the person more than they already are. Depending on the person, if you crack a rib trying to perform CPR this could lead to a lawsuit . This is one reason people stand back and wait for someone else to help. I always looked down upon people like that, but after the incident at Bamboozle, I realized I did the same thing. I stood there and watched a fellow human being in trouble. Since then, I have made myself a promise to help people who are in need."
A well told story that is well organized and has fluidity.
Regards,
Gloria
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