This Survey Came True for Me This Weekend!

When things like this happen, I sometimes wonder if I’m living a life just like the 'Truman Show.' I mean, how did I see examples of both sides of this survey in one weekend?

A new survey that came out last week asked people whether they'd save a dog that was trapped in a hot car... AND whether they'd stop to help someone whose car was stalled on the side of the highway. 71% of people say they're extremely likely to do something to save the dog, whether it's smashing the window or calling the cops.  Only 8% say they probably wouldn't do anything. But... 29% of us wouldn't do ANYTHING if we saw people stranded in their stalled car. 30% say they'd stop to help, and 28% wouldn't stop but they would call 911.

So in other words, people are about four times more likely to help a dog who's in trouble than a stranger who's in trouble… and this weekend, it seemed very true.

On Saturday night I saw a Facebook post of one of my friends saying he saw a dog locked in a car on a hot day so he almost broke the window to save the dog, just as the dog/car owner came out and explained they just ran into a store to make a return and knew it would only be a few minutes. AND they had the window cracked, and my friend Justin admitted he maybe jumped to the “I should smash that window” conclusion a bit too quickly.

On Sunday, my friend Katie’s car blew a tire, so I drove over to either a) help change the tire, or b) give her and her daughter a ride. My friend is a beautiful PREGNANT girl, and I was there in a skirt -- so I'm sure neither of us looked really "prepared" to do this to passers-by as we were standing next to a stranded car trying to get ready to change the tire. (If I’m being honest, I was going to let my pregnant friend do all the work. She is like a superhero and can fix anything, where I’m more the “let's ask for help, or I’ll just provide emotional help while you do this” type of girl. BUT, I have changed a tire once and figured we could give it a go, but we were lucky enough to have a police officer come up and offer to help us. Thanks Olmsted County Sheriff’s Department!)

I noticed as we were setting up, and before the police officer stopped,  so many people drove by slowly and no one bothered to ask if the two young(ish) girls stranded on the side of the road needed help. I'm all for breaking gender roles, and people thinking women can do anything men can, but we MIGHT have needed help and no one offered. But again, that guy I know almost smashed a window for a dog immediately.

Shout out again to the police officer that stopped and helped us! Thank you so much!

(Editor’s note: I know that one of the people who drove by may have called the police to send them to help us. I just was really surprised at how many people drove by without even rolling down a window and asking if we needed help or if we needed them to call for help, and it stuck out because I'd JUST seen this survey the other day.)