Picture this scenario:
You and your family are riding the city bus home after a great day out. 2 people get on a few stops after you. It is obvious from their body language that they are fighting. Person A sits down and stares straight ahead, ignoring person B. At first person B refuses to sit down but then harrumphs into the seat next to person A, making sure to slam into them. They argue in hushed tones. Then person B starts hitting person A. Makes a fist and slams it down on person A's leg. Elbows them in the side, pushes against them. The whole time person A sits looking defeated, staring ahead, ignoring the onslot, occasionally hissing "stop it" to the other person.
By this time most of the passengers around have noticed what is going on. They all start to exchange looks. Should they intervene, say something? But what? Do they risk all this anger being turned on them? Is it even their place to get involved?
So dear readers, I put it to you? What would you do? I have added a poll over on the left hand side so that you can vote on your answer. And then I will tell you what Hilary and I did, since this happened to us yesterday.
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4 comments:
Andy ... for me it depends on whether or not I am with my child, and if getting directly involved puts my child at risk to experience violence. In THIS circumstance, assuming Liam is with you, I would notify the bus driver and request assistance.
If my child was not with me, I would ask the person being hit if htey would like some help personally, and also address the abuser while letting the driver know to request assistance.
I often wonder what it would take for me to butt in to another person's situation. I'd like to think I'd help to diffuse the situation ("It seems like you two are having a rough time. Would you like my seat so you can take a little breather?") but in reality, I would probably do nothing overt. Internally, I might try tonglen (breathe in their battle energy, transform it in my heart, breathe out the energy of peace).
Can't wait to see how you handled it.
I agree with Jen - it depends on whether or not I'm alone, with DH/another adult, or whether I've got kid(s) with me.
I'd probably opt for notifying the bus driver and/or using my cell phone to alert the authorities, depending on how serious the assault was.
In the situation you described, and assuming the same scenario (w/ DH and Kiddo), I'd probably either urge DH to say something in an intervening way or have him/me say something to the bus driver.
Hmm that's a tough one. Only because I know how embarrassing it is to be arguing in public, however violence pisses me off. I've never been in that situation, only one where we are at a bar and someone had a few too many, that I can totally handle. I'm interested to hear/read how you 2 handled. I'm in agreement with the children in tow or not.
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