Note: This post is part of a series I like to call “Posts I intended to write a long time ago but never got around to it”. I wanted to have it written by October 31st but I had a test right around the corner and had to prioritize. Therefore, imagine going back in time and put yourself in a Halloween state of mind. Try not to get too scared, though.
Last year, on November 1st, my girlfriend and I were studying in the basement of the student center. It was late in the evening on the day after Halloween and we had a big test coming up. We were both completely engrossed in our computers until our concentration was broken by cries for help that came drifting through our open window. My girlfriend immediately suggested we call campus security. You can probably guess what I chose to do.
You know how in horror movies, the characters when confronted with a dangerous situation will always choose the path most likely to cause the viewers to yell at the screen and/or roll their eyes?
Well, as a future physician, I felt it was my moral duty to help a fellow citizen in distress, so I decided I would go outside to see if there was anything I could do. Of course, before stepping outside I popped my head into the student lounge and grabbed an older classmate that is much bigger and more threatening looking than myself to join me. More importantly, he was much slower than me and if I needed to escape, the lion always catches the slowest antelope.
Courageously, we went outside, but could not find the origin of the pleas. By the time we got back into the student center, my girlfriend was talking to campus police. They were very thankful that she called and did not seem impressed with my selfless rescue attempt.
Later in the evening they came back to the student center and told us they located the cries and they were coming from the psychiatric ward which, unbeknownst to us, was about 20 yards away from our study spot. A patient had managed to open a window and was using it as an avenue to express their displeasure with being admitted.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that I’m pretty much saving lives 24/7… or as my girlfriend puts it, “Why did you go out there? What if someone had a gun? You’re always doing stupid things that probably only put your own life in jeopardy.”