I’d be rather more inclined to pay the hero than to do it myself (with appropriate evidence that it isn’t just a common scam). I’m not a good swimmer, and may well screw up saving the child. A hero-for-hire presumably has a lot more experience with saving people in situations like this. I would of course not pay cash on the spot, since that just invites people to get children to pretend to be drowning in order to extract cash from passers-by.
If we extend the scenario to hundreds of children drowning in ponds right near me per week, then I would wonder where the hell all the adults are. Once may be happenstance, twice is a suspicious coincidence, and three times is definitely enemy action—and anything I pay into that mess seems as likely to perpetuate the situation as fix it without a lot more investigation.
I’d be rather more inclined to pay the hero than to do it myself (with appropriate evidence that it isn’t just a common scam). I’m not a good swimmer, and may well screw up saving the child. A hero-for-hire presumably has a lot more experience with saving people in situations like this. I would of course not pay cash on the spot, since that just invites people to get children to pretend to be drowning in order to extract cash from passers-by.
If we extend the scenario to hundreds of children drowning in ponds right near me per week, then I would wonder where the hell all the adults are. Once may be happenstance, twice is a suspicious coincidence, and three times is definitely enemy action—and anything I pay into that mess seems as likely to perpetuate the situation as fix it without a lot more investigation.