An experience

Situation:
Walking to the bus stop from work on Brannan street. A young dude passes me.
Then ahead I notice a man lying across the sidewalk. I notice a bicycle upright next to him. Was there an accident? Is he dead? Is this a situation I want to avoid because it might give me nightmares for a long time?

The young dude stops in front of the man...clearly wondering if this is serious too. Thank god he's there. I can follow his lead.

I catch up but stop from afar. I ask, "is he OK?" The young dude looks to me and says, "I was looking and he's breathing." I am relieved. I walk up finally. If the person was dead, I'd probably jump across the city out of a deep fear/aversion of dead beings (I have a few stories about this and realize that my aversion is not the common kind...ever since a kid when my pet birds died...'nother story)

We hesitate. The man is breathing, but what do we do? 911? The young dude has an English accent and asks me. I'm not sure because I'm also hesitant to call 911 if the guy is OK. [see 2nd bullet]. I see many people looking like they might need help on the street but have learned that it's not something I can worry about for every person.

We bend over and ask loudly, "sir, are you alright?" He opens his eyes, lifts his head, and nods. Then closes his eyes again. No idea what his real state of mind is, but he assures us. So we slowly, unconfidently, walk on.

We discuss what happened. We did stop to inquire. But with his nod, we essentially left a man lying on the sidewalk. Is that really OK? In many other countries, that would even be ignored. But in the richest country of the world? Yet there are so many like this...and like I said, I've learned to pass it by. Seriously, when I first came from Tokyo and lived with my brother in Berkeley for a summer before heading to college, it was a HUGE adjustment to not be worried about every street person who asked for help. I learned to not respond...

So sad and bizarre.