I just heard a really interesting story. A man was on his way home after spending the day at a public gathering. He had his young daughter with him, and was driving through a fairly average part of town. He came to a red light, stopped just behind a cab. After the appropriate period of time, the light changed. The cab didn't move. A short wait, a short beep on the horn, and still nothing.
The man pulled out, going around the cab that was still stopped. As they were passing the side of the cab, the cab driver started waving his hands trying to get the driver to stop. After a very, very brief hesitation, the man continued his drive home.
A short distance down the road, his daughter asked him, "Daddy, why didn't you stop?" The man explained to his daughter that, although things looked ok at the time he had no idea of what would happen if he did stop. After all, with his daughter in the car, his most important task was to make sure she was safe, and he wasn't willing to take a chance. If things had looked like there was a real problem, he would use his cell to call the appropriate people to help.
I know this story sounds harsh and very unfeeling. In a civilized society, people are supposed to help each other. There was no obvious problem, so why not at least stop and see what was happening. It would have taken just a second, what could go wrong?
Well, lots. First, this man had a young charge that he was responsible for, and this limited his ability to take chances. Who did he owe more consideration of, his daughter or this stranger? Had he been alone, he may have at least slowed down, rolled down the window and asked what the problem was. But he couldn't in this case.
While things appeared safe, there are many scenarios that could have taken place. Maybe the cabbie was having simple mechanical problems, and then the man could have called a tow truck. Maybe the cabbie was a little disturbed, and just wanted to yell and rant at someone. But, just maybe, the cabbie had this planned along with an accomplice hading in the bushes. When the innocent driver stops, the accomplice sneaks up up behind car while the cabbie distracts him. Maybe a gun pops in through the window, and the man gets car-jacked. Or the accomplice gets jumpy, and pulls the trigger by mistake. Or, just maybe, the cabbie and his accomplice have already decided they wouldn't leave a witness behind and will just pull the wallet out of a lifeless body.
Processing information is the key, and understand the consequences of decisions. If the driver had stopped and something went wrong, there would have been potentially bad consequences. But, had the man stopped with his daughter in the car and something went wrong, it could have been infinitely worse. If the man alone gets injured, he would have been upset. Had he been killed, his family and friends would have morned him. But if his daughter was hurt in a situation that he could have easily avoided, the man would have been devastated. Had she been killed, and he survived, the grief and guilt would have been unimaginable. He would have lived the rest of his days knowing that HE was the one who made the bad choice that cost her life.
Decisions are a cost/benefit analysis. You look at what will happen if you do something, and what will happen if you don't. But you also have to take a look at the likelihood of success or failure, as well as the consequences of those.
Take Russian Roulette. Take a 6 shot revolver and put 1 bullet in it. Spin the cylinder, put the muzzle to your head without looking and pull the trigger. Statistics tell us that you have 84.4% chance of surviving, which most gamblers will tell you is pretty darn good. But it is the COST of that bad outcome that totally out-weights the good odds that keeps you from doing it.
I leave you with one more thought on the cost of making a poor decision, based on the cost of a bad outcome. The odds of being killed by lightening are 2,232,000 to 1, which are really in your favor for living a long life.
BUT it really, really sucks to be the 1 ...........
0 comments:
Post a Comment