True Story/Humanity

What Would You Have Done: Based On Real Events

When faced with a strange set of circumstances and a potential threat, what you do might mean more than you can understand.

Photo by Buddha Elemental 3D on Unsplash

Based on true events…

There comes a time when a new option gets presented to you that you might not know what to do with. That decision can leave you with fear and anxiety about what happens if you choose wrong, or you can face the situation head-on. Sadly, some will choose the simpler, easier way.

John left home on a simple errand. He was going to pick up an item and take a drive in the still cool, but incredibly beautiful night air. As he stood in line at a local small store, he ran into an old friend. They had a nice chat and parted ways.

John got to talking to another local as he was getting ready to leave. He was a regular there. As a semi-retired guy, John didn’t have a lot going on in life. It was a time when he was struggling with purpose, dealing with health issues, and a little more than a little lost.

Linda, the cute, spunky, fun-to-talk-to assistant manager, approached him. She had a worried look on her face, which to John was an alarm. She didn’t seem the type.

“Are you leaving?” she asked.

“Yeah, I just stopped in for a can, and I was going to take a drive. What’s up?”

Linda pointed out a suspicious character in the store. He had been spotted and reported as someone preying on women. She explained how he’d been, “Trying to push for sexual favors.”

“Really, why don’t you just tell him to leave,” John asked.

“We can’t, until he does something specific,” she explained. “But every time I go through the area he stares at me, then looks away like he doesn’t want me to know he’s watching.”

John thought about it and told her he’d check him out. He had some experience with the type she was describing. John knew bad guys. He knew evil men existed and had multiple encounters with them. Even though he’d long since hung up his duty belt, having practically grown up in the violence of dealing with the worst in society, he still had to live with his choices.

The lounge area, essentially a place filled with vice, wasn’t full. He took a chair where he could visit with Linda when she had time, and keep an eye on his friend. Over the next few hours, John noticed the vibe coming from the mysterious subject. He’d seen it before. The obvious leers, the way the guy was scoping the room, the body language. The strange, foreign-sounding, marked-up man struck him as someone with ill intentions.

John would get up and make the social rounds when other familiar people came in. He’d known a few from having hung out there, and it was nice to see them out and about. As he moved, the man with the creepy, rapey vibe would watch John. He seemed to be particularly interested in John’s interactions with the assistant manager.

Finally, after a few hours, the guy seemed frustrated and then got up and suddenly walked out. John wondered, had they been right? Was the man planning on doing something unthinkable? Or, had the employee been worried for nothing?

He started to leave and go on about his business; the time of day for the casual drive to clear his head long passed. As he stepped out of the local shop, he noticed a suspicious car in the parking lot across the street. The closed business, a business he was familiar with, had a visitor on the lot. It was the suspicious character from the store.

Being filled with stubborn resolve, John stood there, his arms crossed. If he left and something went down, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. It took another thirty minutes for the guy to finally get a clue, as John stood outside the business where the nice assistant manager worked. As he stood there, Linda came out.

“You’re still here?”

“So is your friend,” John replied.

As they talked, the suspicious car drove off. John waited for a while, and thirty more minutes passed. As the store was getting ready to close, and there’d been no sign of the strange man with ill intentions, John told his friend at the local business he’d see her next time.

John and Linda both got home safely. The man who weirded people out was gone, hopefully realizing that while it might look like a safe opportunity for him to do something evil, the local neighborhood wouldn’t stand by and let something happen. Sure, he had the eye for the type. He’d let go of the gunbelt years ago. He’d given most of his life to protecting the public, dealing with the devils at the gate. But his eye, his instincts, tell him that something was off, and he could intervene before it was too late.

Takeaway

After 9/11, the country was asked to speak up if they saw something suspicious. Somewhere, along the years, the country changed, and people became less likely to speak up. In some cases, all it takes is a small deterrent to push someone with a bad idea to leave. Being identifiable, knowing that people are paying attention, and knowing that it won’t be as simple as a he-said-she-said kind of situation, might be all it takes.

John (not his real name) examined the situation. He felt the same thing Linda feared. Unfortunately, as a guy who’d dealt with sexual predators, rapists, and the worst of humanity, he’d seen that look before. But, as an older guy, all it took was awareness and a presence to deter the potential dark outcome.

When the world wakes up and stops depending on the system to fix the problems, a percentage of problems can be dealt with easily. It means people have to recognize the reality, be willing to be involved in their communities, and remember that a lot can be done with very little effort. You don’t have to be a hero or a cowboy to make a difference to someone and possibly, in a non-heroic way, save their day.