Originally posted by 239bid0073 on September 24, 2020 10:01
On the night of May 25, 1997 Sherrice Iverson was sexually assaulted and murdered by Jeremy Strohmeyer, while his best friend David Cash stood there looking on. In this situation David Cash is just as guilty for the murder as Jeremy is, and the fact that he has not been charged with any crime is a loss for humanity. Many things should have crossed Cash’s mind to make the proper decision in this scenario. He should have thought about the little girl, his best friend and himself. First and foremost he should have thought about what was going to happen to Sherrice, and to her family in the aftermath. And if this wasn’t enough to push him to jump into action. Then he should have thought about what it means to be a friend and call them out when they are doing wrong. As a friend you have to have tough love sometimes because you want the best for that person. And finally if that didn’t encourage him to stand up to this wrong, he should have thought about himself and what he was going to have to live with for the rest of his life. The pain and the replayed images in his head of what he could have done should have been what brought him into action. But as said in the “Trick to Acting Heroically”, heroes don’t think before they act. People have good instincts and just spring into action without thinking about anything but the person or thing they are trying to save (The New York Times). If we want to make change in this world, and see a change in people's actions then there needs to be no exception to when and when it is not okay to be a bystander. Being a bystander is never okay and the more we do it the worse this world is going to be. But because of the technology that exists in today’s world it can be hard to take that first step and call out the problem. According to WBUR in a way our new instincts of documenting everything hinder us from taking that first step to save someone or change a problem. We are more consumed in telling the masses than solving what is right in front of us. This is very scary and concerning, and could lead to the loss of so many lives and the integrity of humanity. Speak up to every little wrong. It may seem small, or like it is not going to amount to anything, but you never know. And the more you do it the easier it will become when you have to spring into action in big cases.
I really like how you walked step by step through what Cash could've/should've done to prevent this horrific accident from occurring. I also want to highlight what you said about sbeing an upstander. It is so important do do anything you can, big or small, to help those around you, especially if you know that yo have the ability to make a difference. The lack of upstanding is "scary and concerning, and could lead to the loss of so many lives and the integrity of humanity. Speak up to every little wrong. It may seem small, or like it is not going to amount to anything, but you never know". I trly agree with this statement and think that we have the room to make so much change in this world if we just speak up and do whats right.