It was the early 90s and I was in middle school P.E. (Physical Education for those of you who call it something else). We were all required to take a first aid class and become certified. The brilliant part about it was we were to endure videos each day that were shot in like the 70s. Imagine watching some dude with a mop top and acting resembling that of Jim Carrey in "The Mask." It's not necessarily a bad thing but it most definitely leads to cruel and unusual ridicule. Needless to say the only useless piece of information I remember from that class was when someone approaches an injured child and says, and I quote, "Baby, baby! Are you okay?" Really. That's what you're teaching us. So from that day forward and still to this day, I use this line or at least let it mull about in my head while I laugh internally.
Despite this silly quote I still don't understand why it's human nature to hover over an injured individual. It's like "Boom" accident happens, and everyone around runs to their aid or just stands there observing and hoping someone will take charge and know what to do. I mean we've been told countless times by educated medical professionals to give an injured individual space and let the one person who knows what to do actually do their job or try to help.
It was just yesterday when I was playing slow pitch softball and our third baseman took a bad hop on a grounder to the forehead. Immediately we all run in to see if she's conscious and okay but after seeing she was lucid no one backed off. It was like let's all stand around this poor girl who's head is blowing up with a baseball size tumor on her forehead from the swelling and she's toughing it out because well, she's awesome. I'm standing there knowing full well if it were me I'd want someone getting me the fuck off the field so I could go cry from the throbbing pain by myself with no one around and to avoid the stares at my protruding egg on my head. So I sat there wanting to take charge but knowing it wasn't my place because I'm like the newbie oddball on the team that no one knows because they're all friends and hang out on the weekends together and they're all couples married or with children.
So next time someone gets injured in your realm, please give them some space if you aren't helping them directly. And in a less threatening situation, feel free to share a little piece of the 70s with someone. "Baby, Baby! Are you okay?!"
