“Outside of a Small Circle of Friends”[1] by Phil Ochs was released in 1967 on the “Pleasures of the Harbor” album. Ever the activist, Phil Ochs satirized those puzzling cases when onlookers stand idly by as a victim is being hurt before their eyes.

The singer song-writer was inspired by the 1964 death of Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York.[2] The story went that dozens of by-standers, including many who knew Kitty, witnessed her being raped and stabbed to death. They were too shocked or too fearful to intervene. Dozens watched, only two called the police. Though woefully and inexplicably delayed, one call was mishandled by the cops, the other was too late to save Kitty’s life. She tended a bar. She worked double shifts and was saving to open her own restaurant. She was on her way home—in the small hours of the night.

Some say this incident led to the creation of the national “911” system. Some said it was the beginning of the end of decency. Some said the whole story was sensationalized by the print news media to sell copies and that the police were complicit. They said that the tragic episode gave New York an undeserved black eye for being the home of cowards.

Phil Ochs wrote a song. His lyrics describe a handful of situations where decent folks, we’d like to think, would lend a hasty hand. But they don’t. He opens with a woman under dire attack, like Kitty was. Then he reveals sexual exploitation, then shows pile-up victims in need of rescue while drivers pass on by, and then swings to the endless straits of poor children starving in ghettoes, and a justice system gone haywire. But in his song, no one helps. In each example, people watch without caring. They see without feeling. Or they make excuses, content to watch, not willing to dive on any grenades.

Observers in the song say, “I’m sure it wouldn’t interest anybody outside of a small circle of friends.” None of them are in that circle. The refrain goes on. It is sung to a ragtime ditty—ironically light-hearted for the song’s dark theme of indifference.

Phil Ochs wrote “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends” 50-years ago. What situations might he include if he wrote this song today? Aren’t many of us living isolated lives, disconnected from suffering neighbors? Isn’t there a better way? If we (the neighbors, the watchers, the by-standers)—if we don’t pitch in, who will?

We need a bigger circle. Lend a hand and watch it grow.

Photo: Phil Ochs outside the offices of National Student Association in Washington[3]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta_iKeH4tsg Lyrics and song by Phil Ochs
[2] https://www.biography.com/people/kitty-genovese-120415
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20111015_174748_phil-ochs.jpg Author Chip.berlet (1975); used here without permission per creative commons licensing