Mal Fletcher comments on the tragic death of a wheelchair-bound man in a McDonald's restaurant in Cheltenham.



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Is helping out the role of someone in authority - for example, a staff member in a shop? Are we doing more harm than good by getting involved?

More importantly, perhaps, we ask ourselves: will there be future implications to getting involved? Will I be required to provide legal witness in a court case? Will I be socially expected to maintain an ongoing connection with the person I have helped?

Data overload in our work and personal lives may make life seem an unrelentingly complex affair. However, in some respects life is a very simple proposition.

We are all connected one to the other. The simple act of helping one person elevates us as individuals and dignifies our shared humanity.

When there is an urgent human need and I can do something to fill it, I should at least try. In these cases, I may need to leave the future to take care of itself; the present is all that matters.

Helping out is not an opt-in or opt-out question, posed and easily dismissed on a digital screen. If we take nothing else from the traditional Christmas story, surely it is this. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.