ABC's "What Would You Do?" is a hidden camera show that puts unsuspecting people in unusual, seemingly unethical or illegal situations, and monitors their reactions.
Scenarios have included teenagers beating a homeless man on the sidewalk; children vandalizing a car; a boss sexually harassing a waitress in front of her customers; and a transgender woman revealing she once was a man to a customer who taunts her.
Whenever I watch the show — which John Quinones hosts as part of ABC's "Primetime" series — I sometimes turn away.
Think about it: How utterly, terribly wrong things could go, as some unsuspecting people might not be the let's-hug-and-laugh-about-it type after the host reveals that they've been duped.
Or worse, what if they react illegally themselves upon witnessing apparent discrimination, property damage or whatever the case may be? (How many people can keep their cool after watching a homeless man being beaten?) It sometimes seems like the program builds unnecessary tension by fabricating scenarios statistically unlikely to occur in broad daylight, in crowded areas, just so we can sit back and enjoy the train wreck.
Of course, I wonder whether a news show should create essentially false situations to score ratings, yet I find the spectacle of watching a different set of case studies on human compassion fascinating.
It's no surprise the show has lasted almost seven years; its theme taps into a question I think we all wonder about: what would we do in a given situation we'd never encountered?
Well, my test came Tuesday morning.
While driving to work, I took a shortcut from McCaskill Street and, while signaling to turn onto Hickory Avenue, a woman, perhaps in her late 30s, walked up to my car.
She said she was tired from walking and asked for a ride to her car, which was waiting at Pep Boys.
Having studied the woman's body language and read numerous books on making snap judgments to assess situations — I highly recommend Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" to learn more about that — I believed this was a time for charity.
Despite being on tight press deadlines, I let the woman in my car, but rolled down all the windows.
It's good to ask questions in these situations, and no journalist is short on questions.
The woman — let's call her "Marge," — said she lives in Crestview, graduated from Crestview High School and was a former Homecoming queen. (She even gave the year, but I won't divulge that here.) She answered my questions naturally, and I couldn't sense deception. So I started to feel at ease.
But her story changed a few times.
For instance, instead of going immediately to Pep Boys, she asked me to take her to the gas station for some oil, and to withdraw $15 in cash for gas.
Then, instead of going to Pep Boys, she asked me to keep driving past the auto repair shop and take her directly home.
Throughout the various detours on our trip, she commented on my car. "It's so nice," she said. There were moments when I questioned her motives, but I also thought how sad it is that we often turn away so many people who legitimately need help, fearing they're up to no good.
In this case, it was odd, but I trusted in God. I've never picked up a hitchhiker before, but was reminded of an old Tommy Shane Steiner song:
The lyrics go like this: "Maybe she's an angel/ Sent here from Heaven/ And she's making certain you're doing your best/ To take the time to help one another/ Brother, are you going to pass that test."
And then, as we pulled up to her house, I heard the rest of the song:
"You can go on with your day to day/ Trying to forget what you saw in her face/ Knowing deep down it could have been her saving grace/ What if she's an angel."
Here's hoping I helped her, and here's hoping I passed the test.
Have you encountered a similar situation? What did you do? Write a letter to the editor or tweet News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR’S DESK: Testing compassion on Hickory Avenue