The first episode that made me cry was the other night, the scenario was a boy with down syndrome (an actor) was bagging groceries at a supermarket and the girl in line (also and actor) was making mean comments that he was taking too long, why do they hire these people and other mean mean comments. The premise of the show is to see how ordinary people would react. Some people would just make faces in disagreement but wouldn't say anything. Some in the line would say that is rude. And a few would step up and express their opinions and stand up for the boy. One person who came to up to bat for the boy wasn't even in the line behind the woman who was acting he just happened to over-hear. He was motivated to step up because he has a little sister who also has down syndrome and he said he couldn't imagine someone talking to her like that, queue the tears. It really does just break my heart that people are so cruel to others because they are different, but it's amazing that people will stand up for others.
Tonight got me going with this scenario: given the new health care reform an elderly lady went to get her diabetes medicine that she can't live without. She is on the last of her social security for the month and her usual co-pay is $20. When she gets ready to pay the man tells her it will be $140. She starts crying (acting) that she can't afford that much. Amazingly several people offered to pay for for at least half and one woman offered to pay for the whole amount. I wouldn't have the money to help her but I hope that if I would have been in that situation I would have helped if I could.
This show is amazing. It really makes you think about how you would react in any of the given scenarios. It's so easy to say you would, but unless you are truely in that situation it's hard to say what you would or wouldn't do. It's a great discussion show and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
I saw part of one episode. I wish I would remember to watch it.
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