Yesterday I helped put out a fire.
Now before you all raise your eyebrows at me, recalling the sorts of mishaps my trek out into the world has already brought my way, I would just like to say that I did not start the fire. Just like that song.
Rather, I was waiting for the bus when some guy walked up to the garbage can and started lighting matches and throwing them in. Man, city life – I tell ya.
Anyway, so now me and a whole bunch of other people that just got out of work and really were anticipating going home not smelling like burning trash were standing there wondering why the hell that guy just lit the garbage can (well, its contents) on fire. I don’t know about everybody else, but my head was like, “THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT BYSTANDER EFFECT IS!”
Luckily before too long, somebody knew what to do and lacked the social pressure that would have kept him from doing anything (you could tell this from his appearance, which was more disheveled than that of the asshole who lit the fire – but hey, his mind was working. Better than mine.) Anyway, this guy remembered that this is Minnesota, so there’s basically always snow around, and snow is basically water.
So he started scooping up the really nasty black snow that accumulates next to roads (remember: bus stop) and dumping in the trash, on top of the nicely smoldering fire.
A little old lady and I helped him, so now I have fulfilled my heroic action tall for this quarter.
Antelop 