sabremeister (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sabremeister) wrote2008-08-29 11:04 am
sabremeister) wrote2008-08-29 11:04 am
Questions
Going back to the incident on the train on Tuesday. People have have posted "well done"s (thank you). But ever since, I have been trying to avoid asking the following question, as it will inevitably lead to another one, and I'm not sure I like the answers that can be arrived at.
What sort of a person would I have been if I hadn't done anything?
I don't know how long the incident took. It could have been as little as ten seconds, it could have been as much as a minute. During which time, I was the only one in the vestibule to move. If it was ten seconds, I must have been moving like greased lightning, no-one else had time to react. If a minute - Hell, if any more than 20 seconds - I was hideously slow getting to the door, and yet still no-one else moved. I do know that I COULD NOT have just stood by and watched that kid probably lose his hand. How fast do those doors open? I had stepped over my case, dropped my sword bag, and was grabbing the edge before they had more than half-opened. Probably not that fast, but fast enough. I, half-asleep and hungry, was the only one to react in time to hold the door open. Was I just faster than anyone else? Or ...
What sort of a person was everyone else that they COULD just stand by and do nothing?
Terrifying thought. I was sharing a coach with unfeeling, inhuman automatons. I can't have been that fast. I can't have. Not in my physical state. There was one person nearer than me, at least one at the same distance. I pushed past the one, and should have had to avoid colliding with the other. I didn't. At the end of it, neither of them had moved. My fencing has given me slightly faster-than-average reactions, but generally only when I'm concentrating, something out of the blue like that would probably freeze me for a second. Especially when I'm tired. But those doors would not take more than a second to open. I can't have been the only person to move. I can't have. The alternative is just too terrifying.
What sort of a person would I have been if I hadn't done anything?
I don't know how long the incident took. It could have been as little as ten seconds, it could have been as much as a minute. During which time, I was the only one in the vestibule to move. If it was ten seconds, I must have been moving like greased lightning, no-one else had time to react. If a minute - Hell, if any more than 20 seconds - I was hideously slow getting to the door, and yet still no-one else moved. I do know that I COULD NOT have just stood by and watched that kid probably lose his hand. How fast do those doors open? I had stepped over my case, dropped my sword bag, and was grabbing the edge before they had more than half-opened. Probably not that fast, but fast enough. I, half-asleep and hungry, was the only one to react in time to hold the door open. Was I just faster than anyone else? Or ...
What sort of a person was everyone else that they COULD just stand by and do nothing?
Terrifying thought. I was sharing a coach with unfeeling, inhuman automatons. I can't have been that fast. I can't have. Not in my physical state. There was one person nearer than me, at least one at the same distance. I pushed past the one, and should have had to avoid colliding with the other. I didn't. At the end of it, neither of them had moved. My fencing has given me slightly faster-than-average reactions, but generally only when I'm concentrating, something out of the blue like that would probably freeze me for a second. Especially when I'm tired. But those doors would not take more than a second to open. I can't have been the only person to move. I can't have. The alternative is just too terrifying.