A Public Social Obligation

There are those people whose disregard for the welfare of others - expressed through their deliberate by-passing of the opportunity to help others - are a disgrace to society. And then there are those others who distinguish themselves by their leap to the defence of those in need. These are those within society who recognize the difference between apathetic disinterest and responsible intervention.

The former beggars society, the latter enriches it.

In Nanaimo, British Columbia, a man was at his home and suddenly he heard "the most bloodcurdling woman's scream" from a parking lot near his condo. Tyler Cardiff did not do what many would, and simply dial 911, then wait for events to conclude as they might. He rushed out onto the scene where he heard a woman scream "help me, help me, he's trying to kill himself".

And then he saw a man holding a can of gasoline. "He poured it all over himself", Mr. Cardiff related later. "I ran up to him and pulled the (five-gallon) jerry can away from him". By then the 30-year-old man was completely drenched with the gasoline. He ran off, and Mr. Cardiff followed, managing to tackle the man.

"I held him down and tried to calm him down until the police arrived."

That man did not have the opportunity, after all, to become a living torch.

And doubtless, once police arrived and had the situation well in hand, Mr. Cardiff felt free to return to his home, finish his meal, pick up a novel he had started, or the newspaper, or turned on his television set, or his computer, and set about the normal activities of his evening, after a hard day's work.

The man who would be a torch "was so covered in gasoline that when our officers arrived and apprehended him under the Mental Health Act, the gasoline melted one of the officer's gloves". RCMP Staff Sergeant Dave Herman