You did the morally right thing though I don't know if it was the practically sensible thing.
If I saw two guys I didn't know fighting without context for what started the fight, I'd stay out of it but keep an eye on it, but once a guy is on the ground and the other guy is wailing on him, it's no longer a fight but a beating. I probably would have talked before punching. I like to put a big smile on my face and say, "Everything alright?" while keeping my eyes firmly upon them. I find people in the midst of doing something bad don't know how to respond to that. If the guy wouldn't stop the beating, then you could get physical. By talking first, you lose the element of surprise, but you gain the chance to resolve the situation peacefully since many people don't like a light shone on their wicked deeds, and in this case, you probably would have avoided getting punched since the guy getting beaten might have told you to stay out of it at which point you should have stayed out of it.
I truly respect you for stepping in on the behalf of someone in need. That's honorable. I get sickened when I see people in need and men do nothing but stand back and watch. It's wrong and morally repugnant.
However, you do need to be fully aware that what you're doing is very dangerous. You got punched in the neck, but you could have been stabbed in the neck or shot in the back. Going into a violent conflict without knowing the context means that there are a ton of variables that can lead to an ugly end for anybody trying to help. That could have been a fight to the death. That could have been a gang initiation. That could have been a couple kids on PCP who feel no pain and don't know who they are trying to kill.
I've never thrown a punch, but I've made a promise to myself that if there is a problem, and I have a significant chance of helping, I'll get involved, and this has lead me to intervene in several ugly situations. I've often checked on a couples I heard screaming at each other in order to make sure the battle was with words and not fists. On one occasion, it turned out to be a wife who had tried to take a knife to the husband. I stayed with him outside his apartment until the police arrived, but I was fully aware that the lady just inside could come out slashing at him or me at any moment. I've spent a lot of time thinking carefully about better ways I might handle a similar situation. More recently, I saw a mother beating a teenage daughter. I and another guy got the mother's attention, and she stopped the beating. The daughter said to call the cops, but she didn't seem to have a problem with her Mom once the beating stopped, and the daughter decided to leave with the mother before the cops arrived.
Though I've inserted myself in these situations, I've been armed with a concealed handgun and I carry a taser in my car, so if thing go bad, I have some insurance. Presumably, you don't have that, so if things go bad for you, they could go very bad very quickly.
All that to say, I respect your actions but weigh your actions carefully.
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