Three short stories about compassion and help in Russia
These are little stories, that I will tell you that quite colorfully describe relationships Russian people to each other in the situations when another person, perhaps, needs help.
The first story.
About 8 years ago in one of the completely ordinary day I went to the tram stop and saw nearby a man lying down without consciousness on the grass.
I went to him to understand what happened.
Do you think someone else went to him to help?
No.
The majority was pasiing by, someone just stood and looked at us.
My attempts to reanimate him by my own strengths were useless and the man was totally passed out, but there wasn’t smell of booze.
I called emergency and was waiting for them.
The emergency came, the paramedics did something and the man woke up.
Do you know what happened next?
One of the paramedics yelled at me for vain call ’cause the sufferer passed out because of light drug and anything sacred wouldn’t be, so he would awake by himself later.
I asked how to understand what was wrong with him, not being a doctor.
In response, I received only a scornful look.
The second story.
Several years ago I was fighting with road-bastards (I mean, violators of traffic rules) that every single morning were driving around the traffic-jams nearby my home on the tram way. Those bastards were winning a few minutes and in so doing violated traffic rules and put in danger the people standing on the tram stop waiting for a tram.
For example, like this:
Or like this:
I wrote about 10 appeals to the police, but nobody did anything.
In their answers was the only one — we can’t do anything because there ain’t enough officers; the installing of camera is expensive, the parsing tram path’s coverage is expensive.
Once upon a time I became a witness of the road accident when one of such bastards hit a girl right on the tram paths. I can still see how she jumped up and felt down right on the stone.
Her head was broken and there was blood on her face.
Do you think someone came to her?
Just only one idiot Dima, I mean, myself.
The bastard came out from his car and started to pull the girl.
I told him he had no right to do it, ’cause while road accident you must touch nothing, especially a sufferer (’cause we don’t know what damage she had).
Staying on the tram stop grandmas started to squeal “Go to the hospital. Immediately!” and so on.
I called the police, took a picture of the place of the accident, and told them again that he mustn’t go anywhere.
Nevertheless, that crud seated the girl into his car and went away.
In a minute two trams drove up and all witnesses of the accident safely went away to their affairs.
I was the only one, all by myself.
In 4–5 minutes came the police officer and emergency. I had to testimony and to tell accident’s details.
The officer declares a car wanted, said me thanks and promised to catch that asshole necessarily.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how finished this story.
The third story.
Yesterday my wife and I were cycling in Moscow. But our walking (and the training) finished not so good because she rolled over from her bicycle and hit her hands, face and head.
There were some people nearby and they saw her falling, but no one came to us asking ”Is it ok”?
People walking by us turned their faces away, watching me who was washing her wound from mud.
I had to order a minivan, because she couldn’t be cycling.
A cab driver turned out to be more or less human, helped her to get into the car and load our bicycles.
But he was one of the dozens people passing by us.
I read about, for instance, in the USA you may lie right on the street and nobody say a word, if you don’t break the law and ask help.
And in Russia you may lie on the street, of course.
The difference is if you even ask help, you have less chances to take simple attention from near person.
So people walk by you and then go to their work, take on state uniforms and treat people the same way.
Do you know, how much life costs in Russia?
There are no official data’s, it looks like the government has something to hide.
There are unofficial data’s.
Minimum is 10 000 roubles (150 US dollars) for intentional murder of man by police officers.
Maximum is 8 500 000 roubles (128 000 US dollars).
At the same time, the average compensation for death is less than for serious harm, and it is 111 000 rubles. (1666 US dollars).
To learn more about it you can read here.
