Reading about bystanders choosing to film two girls being stomped instead of intervening in this thread made me wonder, how many here have stepped up, or even worse how many haven't stepped up when they should have? All varieties of stepping up qualify - Underpaid teachers, soup kitchen volunteers, firefighters, policemen, soldiers, philanthropists. . . Basically put, have you ever helped suffering strangers? Would you have filmed two girls possibly being beaten to death, or would you have jumped in?
Not since high school, but I stood up for an unpopular kid being threatened a time or three. Also bullied a kid once which I regret. Funny thing the kid forgot about it and when I ran into him treated me like an old friend. Felt like a heel. Of course, he's 6'6 and a Air Force colonel now... LOL. I suppose he could afford to be gracious. But I also stopped shit from happening several times when the cool kids were fucking with the less popular kids. Since high school, fortunately there's never been a need.
Yes I would step up if given the chance. But when I was a kid being bullied pretty much meant being bitch slapped around or sucker punched or non-lethal forms of abuse. A mob of kids (well, not human children but young animals) kicking and beating two females takes it to another level. But I have been in the position to intervene in a possible kidnapping in my apartment building many years ago. I do not regret that, and would intervene again if I had to.
once i would have helped out but not any more too much possibility of being sued by either side or the local police trying to charge me with assault.
Good on you, I broke up a couple of fights in high school as well. Most notably I picked up my girlfriend before she threw down with another girl. I remember one guy, wanting a girl fight, yelling he'd "Break my neck" if I didn't put my girlfriend down. Well that's the thing about bullying, it's a matter of perspective, sometimes you think you've wronged somebody and they disagree. And sometimes you think you've done right by somebody and they disagree. I get what you're saying yet there is always a need.
Sadly, that is a legitimate concern nowadays. Yet instead of using one's phone to document the beating why not use the phone as a phone instead and call 911?
I once talked to a guy who said he tried to intervene on a guy beating his girlfriend...and they BOTH kicked his ass.
I've done a lot of charity work if that counts. I wouldn't say I have particularly intervened in anything though. Haven't read witnessed a huge amount of fights since I left school.
Once idiotically chased someone out of A&E (the ER) who'd stolen some personal belongings from some patients and promptly got a knife pulled on me. So I bravely ran away.
Never had to knock on wood, but I know someone who has which makes me wonder if i could. It makes me wonder if i'd ever have to knock on wood and I'm glad I havent yet because I'm sure it isn't good thats the impression that I get.
I was at a rager in '99, and I witnessed a fellow hit his girlfriend so hard she fell down in a heap. I gave my smoke and open whiskey bottle to my buddy, and proceeded to beat the shit out of that guy. My tattoo guy and I threw his ass into the street. Not the first time, nor the last time I had to regulate on a motherfucker hitting a woman, or picking on the weak.
When needed. Situations where it was easier than living with myself if I hadn't. Don't see the need to provide detail on a message board.
I once saw a Somali beating a woman in public in downtown Minneapolis near the corner of 15th and Chicago. I pulled him off her and threw him to the ground and said "If I ever see you beating a woman again, I'll do twice to you what you do to her." That skinny ran.
Any instance where I've helped a stranger usually involves slips and trips and I've been the first there. I was once sat at traffic lights and an old man threw himself over my car bonnet clutching his chest, begging to be taken to the hospital. So, I let him in the car and drove him to there, which in retrospect is probably one of the stupidest, stupidest things I've ever done in terms of personal safety and I don't think I'd ever do it again. Why the last sentence?
I stepped up and tried to stop 2 jar heads from messing with a Frog soldier in an airport. I got sucker punched in the gut for it and the frog got his hat back and ran off without even a thank you.
Too bad. There's always gonna be another bottle of whiskey, but rarely a justifiable opportunity to crack one across some motherfucker's face. I remember some of them fondly, though. Rather than boasting of old battles, I get more out of offering a bit of dignity that don't see much. My 'hood in Toronto has a lot of homeless folks, some of whom are pretty much lost causes-feral even. Eventually, you get to know their names and stories-usually from when they first showed up lost and the slide to self oblivion. Meds wouldn't do anything, even if they could get'em, let alone be coherent enough to take them. So you monitor them; say hello when they stare up in recognition, drop them some smokes or a sandwich when you can-maybe even a beer or a $10 mickey so they don't wind up drinking cooking wine that afternoon. Every now and then protect them from predators who are out looking for some, ahem, kicks... Thinking about it, it's sort of palliative care for the homeless. So many are broke and can't be fixed-how they came to be and the blame doesn't really matter.
Because, as I say, these were situations where if I hadn't acted, I'd have been blaming myself afterward (there have been a few of those, too). I think a lot of people do things every day that they don't consider "heroic."
Oh, please?? Come on, hold nothing back. The weapons used, the amount of blood, the noises, the whimpering, all the tiny intricate little emotions.
A few times over the years in different scenerios. Dicky reminded me of a time I interviened in a domestic despute where a guy was kicking the shit out of a gal and true to form they both turned on me when I clocked the guy. Another time there was a guy getting smacked around with a board outside my favorite watering hole at the time so I took it upon myself to show the 2x4 weilding assailant exactly what it felt like when I took it from him and proceeded to smack him with it. There's other instances over the years I can't recall right at the moment.
not in physical fights, but i like to think i've played a small part in keeping a couple people from taking their own life.
Obviously I've had the lying old hag on ignore for months, but to show my post wasb't about boasting: I was being particularly drunk and obnoxious night arguing with a couple of black guys and foolishly said, "Are you going to step to me Snoop Dogg?". At which point one of them pulled my glasses off my face. It was only by the grace of God and one of my friends that I didn't get glassed.
That might be because you're a deliberately vague, disingenuous sack of shit. Shitting over yet another thread. Now fuck off and write up some medical notes for your betters, typing lackey.
Or you're self-absorbed and looking for a nice, safe Internet fight. Yes, you are. How long do you plan to continue? Something else you're mistaken about, but maybe that's the whole point...you've confused me with someone else. Getting back to the topic [insert Hood over-wordy neg-rep below], this thread is just getting started, but we've already seen several kinds of interventions - stopping fights, preventing suicides, small acts of kindness to the down-and-out. Often it's not the size of the intervention but the impact it has on the other person that matters.
I don't think whacking a nurse on the shins with your cane because she failed to bring your morning medication on time qualifies.
Oh, I thought this was all about violence.. Um, well, my neighbor got kicked out of the house by his folks during an autumn cold snap, and he was sleeping in the woods, and, I'm fairly certain if I hadn't called the cops to have him hauled into the drunk tank that night, he'd be dead from the cold. Plus it rained that night, so that really would have done him in. Him, and my mother, those are 2 lives I've saved. That I'm sure of.
I manage to step up every once in a while, in little ways. Come out of a grump to give a smile to someone who needs it, anticipate a minor need, come out of my shell to listen to someone vent, that sort of thing. There was a young man a few pews back of me one Sunday, so I went back and greeted him. It turned out that he'd been dumped by a second fiancee. So I gave what little comfort I could, and then after service was over I made sure he got together with the pastor so he could be connected with a church who had a support group suitable for him. Just a little effort, but hopefully a big difference in his life.
