Neighbourly Gawkers

Recently during the 5pm traffic congestion, an abrupt cracking noise could be heard from outside our 3rd Avenue East home. A van slowed down to turn but failed to signal, causing the family sized car behind it to misjudge and collide with its back end.

Despite a twisted hood and grill on the car, there were thankfully no serious injuries. My wife was getting home from work at the precise time of the minor crash. As I walked outside to meet her in the driveway, our attention instantly turned to the damaged car directly across the street. For a minute or two, we both fell into the role of ‘neighbourly gawkers’, fixated on the catastrophe at hand but unsure of what to do about it. Initial reaction seemed to be telling us to do nothing but watch.

It wasn’t long before my wife snapped us out of our gaze and suggested we offer the girl standing with the toddler our house as a place to come and stay warm. This sounded like a very good idea, so I slowly made my way across the road to the confusion of the mishap where at least five occupants of the car were standing and discussing next steps. The girl with the young boy was a bit shaken up but openly accepted our offer.

At the end of it all, the family sorted things out with the driver of the van while our 2-year-old daughter made a new friend for half an hour or so. Interesting how my initial awkwardness at approaching the family during their distress turned out to be the wrong gut reaction. Maybe that is our problem these days. There is a tendency to gawk but not necessarily help out because that is ‘their problem’ and it is ‘not our place to interfere’. I’m glad we proved to be more than ‘neighbourly gawkers’ in this instance.