I want a cigarette

So, for those of you who follow my Buzz, twitter or Facebook feeds, you know I witnessed a beating this evening.

I am not going to give details, I do not know these people. But I did call 9-1-1, and the police were amazingly fast.

The lady seems no worse for wear, shaken up, but no worse for wear. The dude ducked into some apartment, but wasn't smart enough to keep himself concealed there, he poked his head out when he thought I wasn't there, I saw him. I told the dispatcher. Then waited for additional squad cars to appear. They sent 3 total.

I kept thinking of a few friends of mine that have been beaten in their past, I thought of my past. I thought of how I would have liked it if someone had stepped in when things happened to me. I thought of my daughter and my sons and how if someone was beating one of them I would want someone to step in. I walked out without my shoes knowing my feet were going to hurt. I didn't know if the guy was going to come after me. I don't know that he won't come after me if he sees me walking down the street.
I didn't think twice.

The point is, every life is one that should be taken into account. You can't just sit back and do nothing. You have to go out there, you HAVE to observe, no matter how painful, no matter what flashbacks you see in your head. It's gonna make you cry, let it.
Because, if you see someone being beaten, they do not necessarily have the strength to call the police or to tell anyone what's going on. People who are being abused are afraid. This is how their abuser can get away with it.

So if you see it going on, you call the police and you stay close by until you get to talk to them. They need to know. And yes, the lady I saw may deny everything. May say I must have been seeing things... but she may not, this may have been just the break she needed to get away from whomever it was who was beating her.

But the fact is, on the quiet nights when she thinks "it never happened and I'm crazy." She can think back and say "She saw it, she watched it all happen, and she cared enough to call someone for help."

And sometimes, that's the one thought that keeps a victim from falling into a deep depression, or worse.