Moral duties should be enforced by law

Amidst high rise buildings, tech and business workers rush to Fortune 500 offices with $17 salads and the newest iPhone. Meanwhile, a homeless man limps along. As he steps forward, he loses his grip and stumbles to the ground. The city continues without regard for his fall. 

There are many reasons why one might not lend a hand to the underprivileged. Perhaps it is because people have become desensitized to issues around them, or because society suffers from the bystander effect, which describes an individual’s unwillingness to help as their actions will become worthless if others step up to assist. Fear also influences our actions, as many are afraid of hurting themselves in the process of helping others. 

In our technology based society, everyone is a bystander. Videos are uploaded every second. Not only that, but our desire to document and share events, like fights or accidents, overpowers our desire to help those involved. 

However, disregard for basic morals doesn’t exist everywhere. In France, it is the lawful duty of citizens to help a person who is in danger, as long as it does not endanger themselves. If they do not follow the “duty to assist” law and willfully fail to provide assistance, they could be jailed for up to five years in prison and pay a fine of up to  75,000 euros.  

This “duty to assist” law might exist because countries in Europe have governments that provide them with services that Americans have to pay for. While the average American, according to student loan corporation Sallie Mae, the average American spends about $18,000 a year on a 4 year college degree, Europeans receive the same for free. Patients in the US also spend two times more on healthcare than Europeans. 

“In our technology based society, everyone is a bystander”

This financial pressure, especially in the Silicon Valley, causes us to focus on individual successes. In San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., the feeling of needing to be the best is ubiquitous. We view other people’s successes as our downs.

Laws that are similar to France’s “duty to assist” law exist globally. The Good Samaritan laws provide protection to those who give assistance to others in an emergency. In the United States, Good Samaritan statutes in Minnesota, Vermont and Rhode Island require a witness to an emergency to provide reasonable assistance (even a 911 phone call) to a person in need. Violation of this duty is a “petty misdemeanor” in Minnesota and may warrant a fine of up to $100 in Vermont. 

However, people are still reluctant to do the morally correct thing. The bar is set too low for Good Samaritan laws for many citizens to believe they have to help others. Though society ideally must have the initiative to make the right choices without laws forcing them to do so, the solution to society’s ignorance might just be to enforce our moral duties into their legal counterparts.