I don’t necessarily disagree with you the way you think I might. We’re probably closer on this than you imagine. If I gave the impression that if, while walking by I saw this and would just point, laugh, and slap my sides, you’re wrong. I’d probably be the first one calling 911 to get someone with rescue gear over there (the water could be shallow, there could be rocks, metal pilings or worse beneath the surface). If I was close enough & could talk her off faster & safely, I’d try that.
But, after she was down, I’d still ask her what the hell was she thinking, why would she ever walk along railroad tracks/bridges and if she ever stopped to think what would be left of her had a train come along. Don’t worry, I won’t post pictures of the beef stew a train would have made of her or list numbers of how many first responders die each year due to false alarms and unnecessary emergency calls. I list this as “unnecessary” because I won’t buy for a minute that she can’t read or didn’t see the signs or didn’t know because no one told her train tracks were dangerous without some cite or proof.
Lastly, if she is senile or developmentally-disabled, I’d ask where her keeper was, because this could have been a lot worse than a humiliating picture. Agreed?
PS- This is the first chance I’ve gotten to see/respond to your reply. Sorry for being so late.
That seems perfectly reasonable (except asking about the person’s “keeper”–I hope you’d reword that). The reaction of seeking to assist a person in distress is appropriate.
Since this is a photo of an event that already occurred, of course there is nothing to be done to help. I’m sure some of the people whose reaction to the picture was laughter wouldn’t laugh while it was happening and would try to help, because they would realize that there is nothing funny about someone hanging onto a bridge for dear life.
The impulse to laugh at the picture just seems horrid, and if one follows it up with justification instead of just leaving it as a victimless thought crime is worse. Laughing at her may be harmless, as she will surely never know and thus cannot be hurt by it, but what does it say about the laugher?
I doubt she thinks this is funny at all, so no one is laughing WITH her. Sorry folks, enjoying laughing at people does not mean you have a great sense of humor that should be celebrated by co-celebratory back-slapping with your fellow mature sophisticates. Please return to laughing when people fart and work your way up from there.
Not you, Count, as you did not indicate that you lost any crucial body parts from excessive amusement.
I’ve been in somewhat similar situations when mountaineering/skiing and while it wasn’t fun at the time, I’m really glad I have some pictures of the situations later to laugh at. Once the danger is over it really is pretty funny to some people, including those who were in danger. She may very well be laughing with people about her (now past) predicament.
Probably that they have a sense of humor, a sense of the absurd, and a sense of proportion.
Those of us who don’t take ourselves quite so seriously can easily imagine being in the same scenario and, later, once we’re safe, laughing our asses off at ourselves. I was walking across campus a year or so ago and there is a gate that blocks off the walkway, one of those kind that just looks like an arm. It was up when I got there. It did not stay up. Let’s just say that I and the gate had a significant difference of opinions about who exactly had the right to occupy that space, and the gate won.
I had lots of witnesses, it hurt like hell, and it was hilarious. I’m sure pictures/movies of it would have been hilarious, too.
Another time at work, I kinda glued myself to the floor and nearly got hit by a forklift. Also hilarious once I was out of danger, and I definitely got teased about it by all of the witnesses.
I imagine lots of people in this thread or on this board have similar stories, though there’s may not involve quite as much idiocy as mine.
Not that I’d ever heard- living in England, with several friends who are care workers.
Anyway, if I did something that dumb (and was unhurt), I think I’d rather people pointed and laughed, rather than assuming I was developmentally disabled.
Knowing how messed up in the head I can be sometimes, I totally can imagine me up there screaming in panic and laughing at the absurdity of it all simultaneously.
I remember my sister breaking her leg on her wedding day. She was crying, screaming, and laughing REALLY HARD all at the same time. Especially when my uncle the vet said, “I think it’s broken. We may need to put you down, Janie*!”
*Name changed to protect the person who was compared to a lame pony
Why should I care what you’d prefer?
If you laugh at this kind of thing, you’re definitely going to end up laughing at a handicapped person at some point. I hope you’d at least want to avoid that.
The usual term would be carer. Minder implies a bodyguard cum PA (unless it’s a childminder) and keeper is both archaic and insulting. All of these can and will be used to take the piss out of someone who has got themselves in a fix by doing summat daft.
Further, to say someone “needs a keeper” carries an implication that someone might be a danger to others as well as themselves.
