...And, felt awful about it for years!
I really believe I've written this story before, but I can't find it, so here goes.
One year, just before Christmas, I went to the mall with my first wife. We were walking through the parking garage when I heard someone yelling, "Stop him!"
There was a guy running directly toward us, holding a shopping bag or two. I think it was a snatch-and-run.
I tensed. My wife grabbed my arm and said, "Don't you dare!" I was so shocked and taken aback that I lost my concentration, and the guy ran past us and climbed over the fence bordering the parking garage.
That gnawed at me for years afterward.
If no one does anything, bad guys keep getting away with it. I think I could have tripped him, at least. This was just a couple of years before I started carrying defensive tools, but I still believe I could have done something. In the long run, it might have even saved the thief's life.
Maybe it was better for me, personally, that I didn't intervene. But it tore me up for a long time. I had such guilt haunting me when I'd be trying to go to sleep.
That was the time I failed to stop a crime, and I swore I'd never be in that position again. I know it's a promise to myself I may not be able to keep, but I'll do my best.
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We’ve all failed to act when we should have and felt badly about it, myself included.
ReplyDelete>> My wife grabbed my arm and said, "Don't you dare!"
That makes the situation especially tough to deal with.