Do something....

Hello my friends! Thank you for joining me again here at Mid-Stride Moxie! I had quite a different plan for what I wanted my first post of 2016 to be, until something happened to me yesterday. 

My hubby and I decided that we would celebrate the first day of the New Year by taking a walk at our favorite place; the beach. It's a special place for us and the main reason we moved from NJ to SoCal. It's a spiritual place for us both that heals us and relieves our stress instantly. We could not imagine a better place to breathe and set our intentions for the year to come.

As we were walking toward the pier, we were witness to an assault. In a flash, I turned to hear the pop of a fist hitting flesh and saw a young man get punched, rise in the air and hit the pier.....hard.

I got the barest glimpse of the young man who did it as he walked away with a young woman pushing a stroller. My husband and I were more concerned with the young man with the bloody face and hands, prone and not moving from the spot he landed. One eye was swollen shut, there was a cut above the other, and his nose and mouth were busted and bleeding.

People kept moving past us...sneering and continuing to walk by. One young man in his early 20s ran up over him, laughing with his cell phone to snap a picture and shouted how he probably 'deserved it'. A man who appeared to be in his 60s with silver hair went to check on the injured man. My hubby and I asked if anyone had called 911 and the older man's wife said that someone said they did. We were amazed that while we and the other couple continued to attend to the injured man (who was still bloody but had regained consciousness), there was a plethora of people who continued to walk past, laughing, taking pictures and just not showing any compassion whatsoever. The injured man got up and started to try to leave, afraid he was going to go to jail more than wanting medical attention. Someone said the person who said they were going to call 911 'changed their mind' and didn't call. One man went to find a lifeguard but returned and said the guard shack was locked and no one was there. I immediately called 911, and we followed the disoriented man to the street, where thankfully the police had arrived to help him. At that point, with the injured man receiving care, my hubby and I walked to the end of the pier to watch the sunset and take stock of how good our life truly is... The other couple looked at us with understanding. I thanked them, wished them a Happy New Year and they wished us the same before we parted ways. 

To say that we were disappointed in the lack of compassion in the community would be a huge understatement. There were people who said the man was drunk, grabbed the hand of some man's wife and that started a fight. They felt he deserved the punch that landed him on the ground. I pointed out to them the rest of the injuries they didn't bother to see, and clarify that they weren't the result of a single 'punch'. Some claimed 'self-defense', and I said that his injuries were an 'assault' where he was a victim, too. They said he was drunk and I pointed out that I made a number of mistakes when I was young, drunk and stupid that didn't deserve a beatdown. I said they could have called 911 the same as we did instead of laughing and taking pictures to put up on the internet. Unable to justify their behavior anymore, those idiots left. The bottom line was that there was a man beaten and bloody in front of us who needed medical attention. His assailant fled, without explanation for his alleged justified beating...and the cellphone-toting crowd around us was filled with uncaring 'watchers', lacking the courage or compassion to even make a phone call to get help.

My husband said it was 'human nature' for the crowd to act the way they did. Yet I felt good that we tried to do the right thing. I don't know if that bloody man was a victim, a monster or both. It wasn't our place to judge at that moment beyond what was right in front of us. He was just a man...just a human being in pain, injured, and in need of help. I truly believe that we were there for a reason. Somebody needed to help that man...so we did... I will not succumb to the crowd mentality. I will strive not to wait for 'someone' to help when I am there and capable of doing 'something'. I can't save the world, but there are things I can do and places I can get involved.

What kind of hypocrite would I be if I claim to be a spiritual being but turn away at the ugly, the painful and the need in front of me? Am I only capable of lighting a candle and some incense? What good does that do if I can't even look at my neighbors in the face or shake their hands? I can't help everyone, but I can choose not to be a passive whiner, willing to send money to a village around the world but unwilling to help someone right in my own town. I will balance this as much as I can, so it doesn't injure me physically, emotionally or spiritually. But what I witnessed on New Year's Day 2016 left me disappointed in people....yet hopeful as I know there are some out there still willing to get involved in humanity. May this year see me continue to try to be a good person. May this be the year that you do, too...