Put that damn phone away and help!

                 Here is a picture that came up this morning on Facebook. There is no autism in this other than this baby is not autistic or would have been screaming like crazy from sensory overload. There is a human nature lesson in this.

                When you first look at it your quick reaction is, what a terrible mother. Why would anyone put their baby on that nasty floor? That was my reaction at first. Then I began to think more and more about all the different elements involved that aren’t just about a baby on the floor.  I began to feel bad for this woman because of those elements you won’t think about at first glance.

                First thing I thought about was she felt putting the baby on that nasty floor was the only option. Something kept her from asking people to help her. Maybe she felt it would make her a burden to others or maybe she just really felt putting the baby on the ground was no big deal. The only way to know would be to ask her personally and unfortunately I can’t, but I sure would like to. Then we have the women standing nearby with her back turned. Did she see this happening and if she did how did she react? Again maybe she didn’t notice although this would be a hard thing to not see happening.  The woman standing nearby not helping gives a little more clarity to why mom didn’t ask if you think about it. If people see this happening and then don’t step up why would someone feel people are kind enough in the first place to lend a hand.

                The picture alone should give us a mountain of information about society. When the picture was posted all of the comments were aimed completely at the mom but there is so much more to aim at. There is women nearby and the person who took out there phone to take the picture and blast it on facebook.  I don’t use my phone to take pictures of shocking things and I especially wouldn’t use it at this moment. My phone is used to call people not humiliate them. In fact the time spent taking this picture could have been spent walking over and offering to help. So yes we can take aim at this woman for putting her baby on a gross germ infested floor but let’s not forget what our society has become. So completely wrapped up in documenting a moment with a cell phone the ability to pull up some empathy is gone. I can’t help but think that in some way this contributed to how a mother would rather put a baby on the ground than ask for some kindness of others in the first place.

                Like I said maybe this was just her way, but how did we all get this way? I have had some difficult moments with my son in public. Rarely do people show empathy when this happens. If they do it’s a little old lady who hasn’t allowed technology to rip out her soul. Is it just a matter of time before a picture of a struggle of my own ends up blasted on the internet? Maybe, because some people do see an autism moment as bad parenting.

                People need to stop preying on each other with cameras and start stepping up with kindness. Or have we gotten so far in to this habit, kindness has been smothered out of us. I like to think there is still hope for the human race but in order for that to become a reality we have a whole lot of work to do on ourselves and our daily interaction with others.

                The title attatched to the picture this morning was "Get that damn baby off the floor!" but I think what could have been added to that was, Put that damn phone away and help!