I haven’t blagged in a while, so let’s kick it off with something interesting I saw on proggit this morning in a thread about some dude threatening suicide.

Someone mentions the Bystander Effect, “The presence of others will inhibit helping” which is something I’ve certainly noticed before.  Then someone talks about giving people random tasks, perhaps not even useful tasks, to break the effect and have them feel engaged in the situation.  Then, someone offers this quote:

“Our vessel often lay so much on one side, that I trembled lest she should be overset [..] Amidst all these terrifying circumstances, I endeavoured to compose my mind. It was not easy to do it; for all the stories that I had heard of the dangerous sailing among the Hebrides; which is proverbial, came full upon my recollection. [..] I asked Col, with much earnestness, what I could do. He, with a happy readiness, put into my hand a rope, which was fixed to the top of one of the masts, and told me to hold it till he bade me pull. If I had considered the matter, I might have seen that this could not be of the least service; but his object was to keep me out of the way of those who were busy working the vessel, and at the same time to divert my fear, by employing me, and making me think that I was of use. Thus did I stand firm to my post, while the wind and rain beat upon me, always expecting a call to pull my rope.”

– “The Journal of a tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.”, James Boswell

I found this all fascinating.