Triffid Trouble

I was recently watching one of my favorite family films - The Day of the Triffids (1962). I was reflecting on the quandary the protagonist faced - not the issue of man-eating plants wandering around (yes, remember that triffids can walk, er, shamble sort of), but the fundamental issue of "fight or flight."

Basically, our hero had two options: hole up somewhere until this whole man-eating plant episode blew over, or bust out the weed killer and try and save some people. Note that the reason this is such a poignant quandary unique to the protagonist is that everyone else on the planet was blind. (If you recall, the night before the plants grew 9 feet tall and uprooted themselves, there was a spectacular meteor shower that caused all who saw it to go blind. Of course, our hero was recovering from eye surgery and his eyes were bandaged up, so his sight was spared.)

So there you are, the only guy on earth that can see, and everyone else is sort of milling around with their hands out in front of them trying to figure out how to survive in this new sightless world. It'd be easy to exploit the situation, hit the local Wal-Mart to load up on survival gear and food, and then head for the hills. But then again, what about all those nice blind people you are leaving behind to fend for themselves? And what if someone else had the use of their eyes and had a more nefarious, even predatory disposition? What is your responsibility? How much do you risk to save perfect strangers?

If you haven't seen the movie, I won't spoil it. But let's just say that our hero does make a valiant effort to do the right thing. Sure, we don't have to contend with giant man-eating plants chasing around blind people, but we do occasionally come across people that need assistance. So when the opportunity comes up in our lives - whether it's mundane or heroic, I hope we can be strong enough not to look the other way, but to take a risk, get involved, and help someone out who needs it.

Be safe,
Josh Coates
Mozy Founder