Unfriendly Skies

(Photos by Google)

I was watching television one day, when I chanced upon this really old episode of CSI from Season 1. I do watch CSI like almost every night but they were all quite recent episodes. So, it was really refreshing to see CSI, 14 years ago. Surprisingly, the main cast characters never seem to age and look the same as they are now.

The highlight of this episode would have to be ending. The CSIs were having a huge debate on whether the passengers actions of murdering the victim was justifiable and if put in the same situation, would they do it. Some say they would as their lives were threatened when the victim was at the emergency exit trying to open it. Thus, considered it as self-defense. Others say that it was the five feet between the exit and the aisles which made the difference between self-defense and murder. The victim was trying to get away but the passengers continued to attack him. 

Nevertheless, here's what Grissom has to say:

Gill Grissom: It's not about that. You all have different opinions but you've taken the same point of view. You've put yourself in the shoes of the passengers, but nobody's put themselves in the shoes of the victim. That's the point.
Sara Sidle: I'm sorry. What are you saying?
Gill Grissom: Nobody stopped to ask Candlewell if he was all right. They just assumed, because he was kicking the back of Nate's seat, that he was a jerk - because he was pushing his call button that he was bothering the Flight Attendant - because he was trying to get into the lavatory he was making a scene - because he was going back and forth up and down the aisles, he was posing a threat.
Catherine Willows: He was a threat.
Gill Grissom: No. He turned into a threat. It didn't have to be that way. People make assumptions. That's the problem. You just did. And I think these passengers made the wrong assumption and now this guy's dead.
Warrick Brown: Well, if that's your stance how could it have been prevented?
Gill Grissom: If just one person had stopped and taken the time to look at the guy, to listen to him, to figure out what was wrong with him it might not have happened. It took five people to kill him. It would've only taken one person to save his life.

This is so true! In our lives, we all do make our own assumptions of people everyday, when they act in a certain way. But we always have to remind ourselves to never judge a person without getting to know them first. There is always a reason why they do what they do. If we just keep relying on our assumption, there is a probability of us ending up hurting or even killing someone, which can be seen in the episode. I feel like this episode succeeded in getting that message across and the importance of it all. I really wanted to show a video of that scene but it was so hard to find it.

Anyways, for those who would like to catch up on the earlier seasons of CSI, you can watch it on Fox Asia Channel every weekday nights at 11.45pm (Singapore Time). I'm pretty sure they have many other timings as well. 

To end off, hopefully you guys manage to take away something meaningful from this post and apply it to your daily lives. Thanks for reading!