What Would You Do?
Today’s world is different. People can get shot and killed for apparently no reason. Law enforcement is not respected as before, and political correctness guides a lot of our actions and what we say.
So I’m at a luncheon with an advocate friend and we were talking about whether or not speaking up on behalf of others is having an impact. In the middle of our talk we hear this woman at another table yelling and blaming her children for how messed up her life is. Then she gets up and across the table smacks her 7 year old son in the head as hard as she could. The place got silent. She then continues to yell at him and the daughter who was about 5 years old. People at another table were shaking their heads but not saying anything.
I was hesitant at first but then got up and went over to the table to ask if everything was okay and told her, “I’m here to help but please don’t hit or scream at your children.” I guess she complied with my request because she started yelling at me and said, “I’ll do what I want to them”, and stands up in my face and tells me it’s none of my effing business. She gets closer to me, still yelling, and then said, “Call the cops, these are my children.” My heart was racing and honestly, I was scared. As she was screaming at me, I was thinking, don’t let this lady hit me or hurt her children.
She then grabbed her children, still screaming, and left quickly. The table across turned back and said, “Don’t feel bad, you did the right thing. She’s out of control.”
For the past dozen years or so, I have tried to give a voice to those who couldn’t fend for themselves. Maybe it was more of a maternal instinct than anything else, I’m not sure. But at what point do we as ordinary citizens step up and get involved?
We heard of incredible acts of personal bravery just last month when 3 American friends were aboard a train headed towards Paris. Out of nowhere appeared a man with an AK-47 assault rifle strapped around his chest. In this case the friends decided to take decisive action to subdue the man, and as we now know, it turned out to be the right decision. Their actions probably saved dozens of lives that day, including their own.
That woman said it was none of my business. She was wrong. She made it my business and everyone else’s when she chose to lash out at her children in a public place. Whether or not people chose to get involved, that’s a different story.
When that man walked into that train car with an AK-47, it became everyone’s business. Matters of Life and death. The 3 friends had but a moment or two to think. Then they had to act.
Was I being politically correct? I don’t know. All I know is that I don’t regret my decision to step up and say something on behalf of those children. What I perceived was an injustice and a woman clearly not in control of her emotions.
What would you have done?
Thanks for listening. With Faith there is hope.
PW