Bystanders....
There's been a lot of talk in the media lately about getting involved or not getting involved when you witness something wrong (especially violence). After a shooting at a political rally in Arizona this weekend, news surfaced that it was bystanders (including a 71 year old man who was shot in the back of the head by the gunman no less) that tackled and held the gunman until police took him into custody. At the same time, on the opposite side of the country, a young man is attacked by teenagers while waiting for a train in D.C. while the crowded platform of bystanders can't be moved to do more than record the incident on their iPhones to post on YouTube.
WTF is wrong with people? Get involved! Stand up! Do something!
About 7 years ago, I was riding the green line into the Chicago loop. There were 3 men and one other woman besides myself in the car, all sitting apart from each other and minding their own business. I was easily the youngest person on the train by at least 10 years, not to mention a good foot or two shorter then any of the men on the train.
The silence in the car was halted when a drunk walked in through the rear of the car, carrying a bottle in a paper sack and spouting about the dead crawling out of their graves and that we "would get yours", "get what's coming to you" and other violent and threatening comments. He wandered from the back looking at each person in turn to issue some sort of threat until he saw the woman who was just a few rows behind me on the other side.
He decided to sit with her. He leaned into her body, breathing into her face as she turned and huddled against the window to get away from him. This only encouraged him to press his filthy body closer against her as he talked about her being a pretty lady and began mumbling things to her that were too quiet to hear from where I was.
I looked back at the 3 men sitting behind us, tried to make contact with each of them but they turned and looked out their windows, pretending nothing was happening. My heart was thumping and I felt like crying because I was so horrified for that woman. I've been a victim of abuse and I can not abide watching something like that. I looked at each of the men once again before forcing myself to my feet and turning to the drunk.
"I think you should leave. You are making the woman uncomfortable", I said.
"What?" The drunk turned and tried to focus on me.
"I think you should leave, you are making her uncomfortable," I said again.
He staggered up and waved his bottle around at me mumbling, "I see how it is" before returning to his previous spewing of threats of walking dead and our own pending doom before wandering on to the next car. The "men" on the train continue to look out the window. The woman, with tears brimming in her eyes, mouthed, "Thank You."
Sure I was scared. I had no idea if the man would turn from verbal to physical assault by my words, but the minute you become a bystander instead of a participant in this life is the moment you don't deserve to have that life anymore.
Shame on them. Shame on anyone who "minds their own business" when they see someone else suffering.
WTF is wrong with people? Get involved! Stand up! Do something!
About 7 years ago, I was riding the green line into the Chicago loop. There were 3 men and one other woman besides myself in the car, all sitting apart from each other and minding their own business. I was easily the youngest person on the train by at least 10 years, not to mention a good foot or two shorter then any of the men on the train.
The silence in the car was halted when a drunk walked in through the rear of the car, carrying a bottle in a paper sack and spouting about the dead crawling out of their graves and that we "would get yours", "get what's coming to you" and other violent and threatening comments. He wandered from the back looking at each person in turn to issue some sort of threat until he saw the woman who was just a few rows behind me on the other side.
He decided to sit with her. He leaned into her body, breathing into her face as she turned and huddled against the window to get away from him. This only encouraged him to press his filthy body closer against her as he talked about her being a pretty lady and began mumbling things to her that were too quiet to hear from where I was.
I looked back at the 3 men sitting behind us, tried to make contact with each of them but they turned and looked out their windows, pretending nothing was happening. My heart was thumping and I felt like crying because I was so horrified for that woman. I've been a victim of abuse and I can not abide watching something like that. I looked at each of the men once again before forcing myself to my feet and turning to the drunk.
"I think you should leave. You are making the woman uncomfortable", I said.
"What?" The drunk turned and tried to focus on me.
"I think you should leave, you are making her uncomfortable," I said again.
He staggered up and waved his bottle around at me mumbling, "I see how it is" before returning to his previous spewing of threats of walking dead and our own pending doom before wandering on to the next car. The "men" on the train continue to look out the window. The woman, with tears brimming in her eyes, mouthed, "Thank You."
Sure I was scared. I had no idea if the man would turn from verbal to physical assault by my words, but the minute you become a bystander instead of a participant in this life is the moment you don't deserve to have that life anymore.
Shame on them. Shame on anyone who "minds their own business" when they see someone else suffering.