This morning, a woman collapsed and appeared to be having a heart attack right at the entrance of the subway. The man standing right beside her when she collapsed stopped and held her hand and called 911. I called the booth operator and watched for the ambulance to make sure they came to the right entrance. Another passerby offered to call someone for the woman, and she asked for her sister. About 15 passersby stopped, politely maintained a distance, and waited to do something if need be. One man simply put her ear buds back in her purse. Another brought her phone to her, which she had dropped several feet away. Several firemen eventually showed up. And then the ambulance. All the while, the one man held her hand, spoke softly and maintained eye contact with her.
We are not individuals on this planet. We're a community. Our government works the same way, because it can not function any other way. The healthy stop to help the vulnerable. It is our default mode, and seeing it in action this morning made me feel very optimistic. It also made me love New York.