Have you ever looked the other way?

No, usually I can’t.

I saw a woman get hit by what I assume was her boyfriend or husband.
I regret not pummeling him into the ground.

I was on the train one time & this bubblebutt, greasy, smelly, drunk guy sat opposite me. Well, imagine my horror when out popped his untethered &......... dare I say it, (dare dare)….erect todger! Now, aside from being quietly impressed that in his state he could achieve such a feat, I didn’t know which way to look. After what seemed an eternity, I returned to browse through my copy of Farmers Weekly. Nothing like a good old Massey Ferguson to take your mind away from the gutter.

2 am. Just finished an accident report and about to enjoy a cup of coffee and three doughnuts. Pulled into the lot of an empty gas station. There two minutes, when a car drove in next to me and the driver was asking for directions. Down the road, in front of me and the tourist, came a vehicle traveling backwards at about 40 mph. I looked at the tourist and he looked at me. I quickly gave him his directions, secured my coffee and doughnuts, placed my cars transmission in D and took off after this vehicle. No lights or siren, I was trying to get a speed clock on him. He was not speeding. Coming up was a little dirt road. I politely turned on my right turn signal and found another resting place to enjoy my coffee and doughnuts.

Did I look the other way? Yes. Why? The closer I came to this vehicle, I recognized the car and driver. Someone I knew.

The next day, I stopped at this drivers house. He explained that he had reversed the body on his vehicle, which made it appear he was driving backwards, when in reality he was not.

@ucme I think it was very polite of you to not sit and stare! XD

Hell of a story @john65pennington!

@Cruiser You know, for a moment there, I was kinda tempted. He did have nice teeth XD

Yes, before my Physics final last semester…we were allowed to make up a formula sheet the class before and put certain formulas on it that the professor allowed. The students knew that he would not collect the formula sheets, and wrote extra formulas on their papers before class. I did not, and wondered whether I should say anything. The professor did not get there until the last moment and there was no time, but I kept hoping he would notice people had put down extra formulas as he walked around to pass out the test…it pissed me off something awful, because they violeated his trust in them.

@yankeetooter I know that feeling well and I try not to worry about what other people get away with in life. You were honest and that is all that really matters!

Thank you, @Cruiser. And justice prevailed, as I got one of the highest grades on the test…

Not me. I look for trouble.

I teach in a high school. Looking away, in my job, is equivalent to choosing your battles. I have to decide daily whether a comment, behavior, glance, rumor or someone’s body language needs attention or not. If I were to address every single thing I saw or overheard… I’d spend more time filling out paperwork and doing interventions than teaching. I never look away from life-threatening information, but if someone cusses in passing, I don’t feel like sitting through a hour detention and filling out 2 pages of paperwork. My son’s high school gives 6 hours of Saturday school for cussing; I appreciate any teacher who looks away at his school!

Yes, when a bully at school got jumped by the entire class.. Taught him a lesson he never forgot I imagine.. I felt no remorse :-/

Yes, perhaps when I was younger.

I spied a boy cheating on a major exam in class and he saw that I had noticed it and gave me a pleading look and head shake. I didn’t say anything and after class he told me a sob story about losing his team eligibility and scholarship if he didn’t pass the class. I hung out with him a couple times after that and realized that he was an entitled, lying little punk without a shred of decency.

I wish I’d turned him in.

When I was in Jr. High, our track team would be sent on long runs. I would run from school and into my neighborhood and a connecting one. More than one time I saw a man beating his wife on their front lawn and I didn’t call police or say anything to anyone aside from team mates. I had been on that run enough times to have also seen the woman beating on two different girls either in the front yard, the driveway or just inside the front door (open door with screen).

What is most horrible is a few years later the woman and her two sons were sent to prison for the murder of both her daughters and she was also accused of murdering a previous husband. I read about it watching some cable show about female serial killers.

Oh hell @Neizvestnaya, that’s awful. You can’t change it now so there’s no point in blaming yourself but what would have made it easier to tell somebody? Or why did you think you couldn’t?

@Blueroses: I don’t feel overwhelmed with guilt because at the time I didn’t understand it was ok to poke into other people’s business if abuse was involved. I do think if I reported it then something might have been done like taking the girls from the home because when I watched the show, it said they were abused for years by the mother and by the brothers. Both girls were forced into prostitution and when they grew too rebellious, the mother shut one in a pantry and starved her to do death as a warning to the older girl not to give trouble. In the end the mother and brothers didn’t trust the sister and the girl was shot dead.

My mother and I have talked about this from time to time since she used to jog the same route daily and she also saw the same family. We can only say we felt it wasn’t our business to intervene. This was 1979/1980 and there didn’t seem to be any social norm of reporting abuse. Kids didn’t have CPS on their cellphone speed dials yet to threaten their parents with. Just thinking about this now makes me feel bad.

@Neizvestnaya Of course you feel badly in retrospect but there was a different attitude and a fear of getting involved in other people’s family matters. It wasn’t so long ago that police wouldn’t even respond quickly to a domestic dispute. “That’s between them.”

I’ve seen worse than the minor incident that I posted here. I still feel guilt about not doing anything, so it’s not going on a public forum, but I do get it. Just wonder if there’s an education thing we can do for kids to make them aware of real dangers and give them a comfort zone for reporting it.

I have a bad time of not shutting my mouth when maybe I should.

@Blueroses: I’m pretty sure most kids get awareness lectures in school now and are comfortable enough to tell someone in a position of authority if they see something that scares them or they believe is wrong.

I actually saw some guy in Winnipeg get mugged for his coolers before. He was walking out of the beer vendor, and then some freak came out from behind the dumpster and just grabbed the dude’s bag. I was some ways behind, and heard the victim say to the mugger, after some weak attempt at struggling; okay just fucking take it then! The mugger went off, the victim quickly walked off in between some buildings.

Now what the fuck was I gonna do anyways. Run in there all Batman style? Calling the cops perhaps, but at that point in the situation, drastic measures no longer needed to be taken, and I assume the guy, had he wanted to see this incident furthered, would have done so himself. Still, I always felt kind of bad for not doing anything. I could have went to see the guy and see if he was alright, but it all happened really fast and he left quickly. Besides, it was obvious he was alright. He seemed more pissed off than scared.
I’m also thinking I could have acted as a witness, but I kinda doubt much attention, in that neighborhood, would have been given to a crime like that.

In that same alley actually…there was another incident I looked away from. Nearly at the same place, too…it’s fucking cursed, man.
There was a bar there called The Zoo, and by the back door which led to the alley, there was some dude with a hotdog stand selling food. I’m walking home, and then I hear all this ruckus. Six or seven guys just came out of the bar and started beating the shit out of this poor guy, and breaking his cart and wasting the food and all. I didn’t do dick, although I really should have called the police. But I got too scared and hurried away.
To console myself though, it was a pretty busy place, so I’m sure someone called them. There’s also that that bar was, prolly still is, a place where all these biker drug dealers congregated. Denno what that poor hotdog man did to deserve that, but I’d rather not fuck with people in Hell’s Angels or wtv.

Yeah, Sym. Can’t blame you for not acting in either situation. You aren’t a powerpuff girl or a magical being in real life. You would put yourself in danger in those cases and who the fuck would have your ass? Nope. If we had the power of retrospective justice, you know you’d have the righteous motherfuckin’ sisterhood at your back…. I’d name names, but I’d leave someone out and feelings would be hurt.

We know who we all are though. :)

Oh hell yeah, we do. Justice day is a-comin’. Pray you’re on the side of the righteous.