Supra Vijai
Black Belt
I'd like to preface this post by saying this may not be the best area for this but it's open to all to answer.
Recently, within our school we've had a few emails come out about street predators and assaults that have occurred which in turn have sparked off several discussions about real world violence.
One of the recent emails covered an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about a home invasion involving a professional middle aged couple who were unprepared for this type of event (as many are!). In a nutshell, two men broke into a house in the inner suburbs and attacked the boyfriend, threatened the lady mentioned in the article and destroyed furniture and windows etc. The lady ran out of the house, half naked, to try get help from her neighbors but no one would even answer her cries for help (they turned their lights off) - except for some ex cons fresh out of prison in a halfway house up the street who heard her, ran in and chased away the assailants.
This email in particular got me thinking and to be honest, regardless of any training or ego, if I saw a fight break out or heard some disturbance, I don't know if I would get involved. I'd certainly call the police and/or alert someone nearby but stepping in physically? That's a whole other question and one I don't know the answer to. I don't know if that makes me a weaker person or even a "bad" person but given that I live in a quiet, sleepy little suburb with very little violent crime, it's certainly not something I've ever given much thought to, until now...
I'd love to hear some thoughts from those more experienced either with training or simply the ways of the world. When does being a good samaritan turn into being a "hero" (read: idiot)? What would go through your mind in this situation: would you worry about family, your own safety or only about helping the person in need? Finally, what would you have done if you were the neighbours?
Recently, within our school we've had a few emails come out about street predators and assaults that have occurred which in turn have sparked off several discussions about real world violence.
One of the recent emails covered an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about a home invasion involving a professional middle aged couple who were unprepared for this type of event (as many are!). In a nutshell, two men broke into a house in the inner suburbs and attacked the boyfriend, threatened the lady mentioned in the article and destroyed furniture and windows etc. The lady ran out of the house, half naked, to try get help from her neighbors but no one would even answer her cries for help (they turned their lights off) - except for some ex cons fresh out of prison in a halfway house up the street who heard her, ran in and chased away the assailants.
This email in particular got me thinking and to be honest, regardless of any training or ego, if I saw a fight break out or heard some disturbance, I don't know if I would get involved. I'd certainly call the police and/or alert someone nearby but stepping in physically? That's a whole other question and one I don't know the answer to. I don't know if that makes me a weaker person or even a "bad" person but given that I live in a quiet, sleepy little suburb with very little violent crime, it's certainly not something I've ever given much thought to, until now...
I'd love to hear some thoughts from those more experienced either with training or simply the ways of the world. When does being a good samaritan turn into being a "hero" (read: idiot)? What would go through your mind in this situation: would you worry about family, your own safety or only about helping the person in need? Finally, what would you have done if you were the neighbours?