Fighting
So I encounted what I consider to be a life lesson that I think I failed. Without going into too much detail, I was playing in an intramural flag football game with friends from school, and the game was getting a little testy. We were getting hosed by the official (yes, I'm biased, but it was too the point of ridiculousness), they were up by 14, and they threw a long pass. My friend, who is quite aggressive and seems to get into fights pretty easily, aggressively interfered with the receiver, but to the other guy's credit, he still caught the ball, at which time he got up and taunted my friend, throwing the ball at him.
Well, my friend got up and grabbed him, and chaos ensued. My friend did not throw a punch, but the other guy's teammates ran on the field and one jumped on my friend and punched him in the back of the head. One of my teammates got involved to help Eric, some people were pulling others apart, another side fight started between two people who were pulling others out of the mix...it got a little crazy.
Here is where the life lesson comes in. I didn't get involved. I was on the field, my friends were getting pulled into a fight, and while I wanted to try and help break it up, I didn't want to get involved in the actual fight. I've never actually been involved in a fight in my life - its just not it my nature. But the issue is, my friends were involved, and I feel like I should have gotten in there and helped them. In a way, I feel like I let them down, but I just kind of froze and didn't know what to do.
Its been about 3 hours since the incident, and while I don't think anyone is mad at me (I don't know if anyone even noticed honestly), it is still bothering me. Did I do my friends an injustice? Do I need to develop a better instinct in those situations to help my friends first and deal with the details later? My father, who grew up in Brooklyn and was involved in more than his fair share of fights, always said you defend your friends first and ask questions later. For the most part, I think he's right, but I just couldn't do it.
Well, my friend got up and grabbed him, and chaos ensued. My friend did not throw a punch, but the other guy's teammates ran on the field and one jumped on my friend and punched him in the back of the head. One of my teammates got involved to help Eric, some people were pulling others apart, another side fight started between two people who were pulling others out of the mix...it got a little crazy.
Here is where the life lesson comes in. I didn't get involved. I was on the field, my friends were getting pulled into a fight, and while I wanted to try and help break it up, I didn't want to get involved in the actual fight. I've never actually been involved in a fight in my life - its just not it my nature. But the issue is, my friends were involved, and I feel like I should have gotten in there and helped them. In a way, I feel like I let them down, but I just kind of froze and didn't know what to do.
Its been about 3 hours since the incident, and while I don't think anyone is mad at me (I don't know if anyone even noticed honestly), it is still bothering me. Did I do my friends an injustice? Do I need to develop a better instinct in those situations to help my friends first and deal with the details later? My father, who grew up in Brooklyn and was involved in more than his fair share of fights, always said you defend your friends first and ask questions later. For the most part, I think he's right, but I just couldn't do it.