To preface this post, I am not trying to gloat or be self serving. These are situations I never hoped to find myself in, but I did. I would just hope a stranger would help me if I ever needed it.

In the past 7 months, I’ve called 911 five times for strangers. In August, I saved a random woman from being sexually assaulted, and then had to call 911 because she had alcohol poisoning. Two weeks after that, I discovered a man having a seizure in a party store, with no one helping him. People were quite literally stepping over him, paying him no mind. I called 911. A month after that, I witnessed a massive car accident. I called 911. 2 weeks after that, I witnessed another car accident. This time, the car caught on fire. I called 911.

This past Sunday, I witnessed a heroin overdose while grabbing a drink with a friend at a mainstay Flint bar. He fell out of his chair, and my friend and I thought he was just drunk. After he wasn’t waking up after a couple minutes, I knew this wasn’t just alcohol. His “friends” were telling everyone in this bar to not call the cops. I knew this man was going to die if he did not get medical attention. I told them, “Your friend is barely breathing, he needs help.” They responded, “No, he’s just tired!” I called bullshit. While on the phone with 911, one of his friends started yelling at me. I said, “I don’t care what he is on, but he needs help.” After I said that, his “friend” searched his passed out friend’s pockets. He pulled out what looked to be heroin.

This last instance shook me. I truly could not process or believe what was happening in front of me. This man was clearly in distress, and his “friends” did not know what to do, so they chose to do nothing. They were thinking about themselves, because I’d safely assume they too had some kind of substances on them. They let him lay there, while the staff of the bar had no sense of urgency to help this man. It was not till I called 911 that the staff decided to do something besides stare at the man nervously. That mentality is exactly how people die. It also made me realize that addiction is everywhere. I’ve never known someone that has been an addict, so witnessing that opened my eyes to exactly what that looks like. My friend that I was with asked me, “Why do these things alway happen when you’re around?” I can’t say for sure, but maybe it’s because I’m not a bystander.

I’m writing this to make the case to not be a bystander. Be the person that does something. Don’t be the people that stepped over that man having a seizure in the party store. Don’t be the store clerk that let him lay there and suffer. Don’t be the bartender that did nothing. Don’t be the driver that sees an accident and doesn’t call 911. That’s all it takes. Most of these events took up maybe 20 minutes of my time. That time saved lives. Call 911 when someone is in trouble. Most people reading this post are college students. We have to know when to act in a situation. Young people make mistakes, but they don’t have to suffer because, “It was none of my business.” Make it your business. I know I’d want someone to help me.