Complex emotions

I’m doing some generalizing in this post. Car accident scenes are interesting. Not the wreckage, but the rubberneckers who slow down to look. It’s my personal belief that the majority of slow-driving onlookers are excited to see the scene because it makes them feel better about their own life circumstances. A dose of “schadenfreude”, if you will. “Man, i’m glad i’m not THAT guy”. HOWEVER, there exists within humans a very powerful, evolutionary type of emotion - empathy. The slow-driving onlookers are safe, and the scene is being handled by emergency responders, so they have the ability to relax and be an audience member. But, the people who witness the accident close-up, when it occurs, inherit the role of first responder, and they will often/sometimes put their own safety at risk to rush in and instinctively help save lives. We humans do that for eachother. We like seeing other humans stay alive. But, we also like seeing other humans in bad situations. It’s a part of “social comparison”. I’ll reflect on this, and paid attention to my thoughts the next time i’m slowly rubbernecking past an accident scene.