A rapper, Jonathan “DaBaby” Kirk, is singing about saving a Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska. His song, “Save Me,” depicts him rescuing her and delivering her alleged killer, Decarlos Brown Jr., to police — where he can get, one can infer, the mental health care he needs and no longer be a danger to others.

Some applauded the symbolism of getting involved in “Save Me,” as bystanders were criticized for inaction despite the swiftness of the surprise attack. Others feel the song exploits the murder last month aboard a light-rail train at the artist’s native Charlotte, North Carolina.

The video for “Save Me” begins with footage of the infamous murder with a news-style voiceover before dissolving into a recreation. The woman standing in for Zarutska, Natalie Jones, is a model who bears a striking resemblance to the deceased.

“You think you can save me?” the song begins. “How you think you can save me? … Think you can save me like you God or somethin’?” It’s a reflection on the dangers of life and the cost of action versus inaction. “When I stay silent on my morals,” Mr. Kirk sings, “yeah, it cost me plenty. … So, where the lifeguard at?”

Mr. Brown’s doppelganger, Kendarius “Too” Hargrove, is shown acting nervous prior to the attack. “That youngin hurtin’,” Mr. Kirk sings as the camera pans over the red-hooded figure. “He need love; so, you can’t tell him nothin’. … He ain’t scared of nothin’.” 

Mr. Kirk observes the knife-wielding man. It’s a portrait of bitterness, of someone who has “spent” money “on people who say I never bought ’em nothin’” and suffered those who “say they love you; then they act like they ain’t never loved you.”

In the closing chorus, Mr. Kirk sings that “when it’s just some people, man, unfortunately … we can’t save ’em.” He allows that he’s not looking to other people for salvation himself. “Be more grateful,” he sings. “You know I put my faith in God.”

It’s at this conclusion that what happened aboard the Charlotte train changes. As Mr. Hargrove raises his arm to deliver the killing blow, the rapper grabs his wrist and stays his hand. The video freezes, allowing the viewer to linger on what might have been. Mr. Kirk dedicates “Save Me” to Zarutska and invites donations to her memorial fund.

Imagining alternative endings is a tool artists have used often, but it’s more commonly utilized with larger national tragedies after years have passed. In a 1961 episode of “The Twilight Zone” titled “Back There,” a character returns to Ford’s Theater in April 1865 after musing about preventing President Lincoln’s murder.

In a 1984 film, “The Philadelphia Experiment,” an aircraft carrier is transported to 1941 prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. As with “Back There” — and 1963’s “Twilight Zone” installment “No Time Like the Past,” where a time traveler weighs preventing President Garfield’s murder — the choice is what, if anything, to do. 

“Quantum Leap” put its protagonist in the shoes of another assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, with President Kennedy’s fate in the balance. The episode’s author, Donald P. Bellisario, served in the Marines with Oswald, and has often reflected on that crime.

Elton John’s single, “Candle in the Wind,” includes the lament, “I would’ve liked to have known you.” The song is about Marilyn Monroe, reflecting on her tragic passing, and later it was rededicated for Diana, princess of Wales, following her death in a car crash.

It’s always easy, in hindsight, to hope that we’d have been heroes. An actor, Mark Wahlberg, canceled his flight aboard American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001. In a 2012 interview with Men’s Journal, he said that “it wouldn’t have went down like it did,” had he been on the plane that hit the North Tower. He later apologized. 

We cannot, of course, change the past. But we can learn from it to guide our future actions. With “Save Me,” Mr. Kirk has people thinking about how we meet moments of crisis. We can resolve to help or live with the regret of others paying the price for our inaction.

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Correction: 1961 was the year of the broadcast of the Twilight Zone episode “Back There.” An earlier version misstated the year.