If you encounter a dead body on your way to work, the rest of your day pretty much has to go better.

[xiphias]

I don't know for certain that she was dead. Just that she wasn't moving or apparently breathing. Other people in the train station said she'd fallen down, and she was halfway down the stairs at the Hynes/ICA train station, slumped against the wall. There were packages, bags, spilled down the stairs below her. She looked forty maybe. I don't know.

Everyone was sort of standing around confused and bewildered, not sure what to do. People were asking each other if the police or anybody were on their way, and were reassuring each other that they were. Other people were just going up and down the other half of the staircase.

The homeless guy who lives there was still asleep, wrapped in his wool blanket behind the ATM machine. I guess he can sleep through most anything. I don't know his name, but I gave him a piece of pumpkin pie that I was taking home from work, once.

I left to go to work, hardly really paused. But I did see a Massachusetts State Police officer walking down the street a block away, and went up to him, and said, "Excuse me, sir." He turned around. I said, "There appears to be an injured woman on the stairs in the train station." He looked startled -- actually jumped a little bit -- and said, "Thank you; I'll take care of the situation from here," and he went off into the train station. I continued on to work, and started hearing sirens.

Was she dead? I don't know. And I'm never going to know. And it bothers me a little -- but not very much. And it bothers me a little how little it bothers me -- but not very much.

I know I'm not heartless, or uncaring. But I live in a city. And there's half a million people around here, and I can't care about them all personally. And, well -- I worked on a suicide hotline. They train you to care about people while you're there, and then let it all go when the call's over.

We have police officers. And I didn't just leave it at, "Someone else has called, or will call, the police." I told a police officer what the situation was, and let him handle it.

When I came home from work, there was no indication that there had been any sort of disturbance.

Comments

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

how odd. since i do not live in a city, such an event would certainly make the news. it sounds like you did the right thing, though.

that would have made my morning decidedly funky.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, you figure that, on average, a person drops dead somewhere in Boston about every hour. Maybe most of them are in hospitals, or nursing homes, or such, but I'm sure that at least a couple people die in public every day.

Especially during the winter. Plenty of homeless people freeze to death. People slip on sidewalks, get in car crashes. Drop dead of stroke or heart attack while shopping.

[being-homeless.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmmm...
yes homeless people do learn to sleep through everything. but its really bad when you sleep through the police shaking you awake... ;)

um, I totally know what you mean about the subways and people getting sick/hurt in them. being a person with no real destiny most days I often stay with whoever collapses in the subway til the EMTs show up (I have basic life support certification and I'm a lisenced nursing assistant)... it amazes me how people can walk over someone collapsed just to get in the train ontime. It also amazes me how slowly the MBTA token booth people react to emergencies... yeah they probably see plenty in a day between drinks collapsing, women in labor, people falling, or heart attacks- but a medical emergency is a medical emergency...

I have found myself often staying with homeless drunks in need of medical care until they are actually loaded into the ambulence- I've even gone to the hospital with them on occasion to advocate so they get equal care...

last spring I found a dead homeless man in gov't center. I think he had been dead for a while (I think OD killed him) but people kept on walking by. I called 911. they came and said he'd been dead a while... what kind of society do we live in where a person can be dead on a set of stairs and people keep walking by????

I've lost several homeless friend this year to Overdose... many of which ODed in broad daylight- no one stopped to help. I don't get it...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those people who kept walking by, really. I did find a police officer, but, if I hadn't seen him, I probably would have just gone on to work.

I think it's that most people can't care about more than a couple dozen people. Maybe a few people can care about a couple hundred. But it's a very rare person who can really care about EVERYBODY, and I think that people like that burn out fast, because it's very difficult and painful to care about EVERYBODY.

Plus, it's just . . . people don't know what to do. And when people don't understand something, they pretend it's not there.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Eeek. I hope she wasn't actually dead.

*gentle hug*

[gingicat]

You told someone who could help and do something concrete. That's a very important thing. *hugs*

[ailbhe]

There are no homeless shelters in the town where I live. Apparently there's no homelessnes problem. I'm about to leave the house to give some clothes to a woman whose sleeping bag was stolen three days ago. I hope she's still alive; I gave her some hot food last night but it was fucking freezing out there.

[paganmommy.livejournal.com]

Actually, your response is incredibly healthy. You did what you could, but didn't take it completely in to yourself. You can't, or you become a puddly mess like me.
You did the exact right thing, and I am sending out prayers that she is okay now.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

*hug* what an unsettling way to start your day. As other people've pointed out, I think your reaction (including being concerned whether you were concerned enough) is healthy and reasonable.