Bystander Effect

As I prepared for my student's final exam I found myself searching Wikipedia (again) for ideas and I ran across the an article on Tipping Point, a book by Malcolm Gladwell. As i read through the article I jumped to the "bystander effect" a theory that basically says the more people that are around, the less likely they are to help. I then went through my head of times when I have actually stopped to help and times when I haven't, mostly in driving situations. But then I thought about this Sunday. I was riding my bike to my house. My fellow teachers and I were about to celebrate a late Thanksgiving and my job was the mashed potatoes. So i had my front bike basket full (yes... i have a basket on my bike) and one hand on the handlebars and the other holding a sack of peeled potatoes. As I entered my school gate my little potato bag decided it had had enough. The Potatoes made a break for it...
Sure enough my potatoes were rolling all over the street. Now, I have dropped many things in the last four years. More often then not people around me are a little afraid to help the foreigner not knowing if they should pretend they didn't see anything so I won't lose face or are afraid of the possibility of trying to communicate with me. Today was different. There was a group of about 7-10 Tibetan ladies standing nearby who quickly came over to help and help pick up my potatoes. There was no hesitation, they saw a need and they quickly came over. It was a great start to my day, and something to be thankful for.