Why don't people stop to help the stricken?

For most of us, that invitation comes not in the form of a call to arms, but in smaller and seemingly more prosaic things such as helping a fellow traveler in need.

The second factor in play here is that in a more disconnected age, we may find ourselves asking more questions about whether or when it is appropriate for us to engage with a person in need.

We sometimes fall into what I call the Complexity Trap. The sheer volume of information we process in a day leads us to conclude that life is more complicated than it sometimes is.

So, when faced with a situation like the one in Gloucestershire, or even the Leytonstone Tube attack, some of us may find our minds filling with questions about whether it is socially acceptable, ethical or even legal to lend a hand.

Is helping out the role of someone in authority – for example, a staff member in a shop? Are we doing more harm than good by getting involved?

More importantly, perhaps, we ask ourselves: will there be future implications to getting involved? Will I be required to provide legal witness in a court case? Will I be socially expected to maintain an ongoing connection with the person I have helped?

Data overload in our work and personal lives may make life seem an unrelentingly complex affair. However, in some respects life is a very simple proposition.

We are all connected one to the other. The simple act of helping one person elevates us as individuals and dignifies our shared humanity.

When there is an urgent human need and I can do something to fill it, I should at least try. In these cases, I may need to leave the future to take care of itself; the present is all that matters.

Helping out is not an opt-in or opt-out question, posed and easily dismissed on a digital screen. If we take nothing else from the traditional Christmas story, surely it is this.