If you are not familiar with Kitty Genovese and the circumstances around her murder, please do a quick search. Yesterday marked the 50 year anniversary since her murder. 38 people reported hearing her scream as she was being assaulted over a 30 minute period, but no one offered help or called the police. She was stabbed multiple times and raped as she lie dying, as her neighbors effectively stood by doing nothing.

This week in Harlem an explosion took the lives of at least eight people. For days, dozens of residents noted the fumes and suffered them, without sounding any alarm it would seem. None of them has come forward to contradict the utility company’s contention that no one called before the day of the explosion to report the smell, though it was bad enough to make some of them sick. Someone kicked open the door to the roof to permit some ventilation. Yet, only one person called the gas company a mere 15 minutes before the building(s) exploded. By then, it was already far too late.

In both these stories the lack of ownership is disturbing and real. In both instances people died who could have been saved. The only thing that needed to be done was to pick up a phone. Care a little about your environment and the people in it. Be your neighbor’s keeper, and in so doing, safeguard yourself.