Author Topic: Saved a little kid's life today...  (Read 11446 times)

Spadaccino

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« on: September 27, 2004, 08:20:09 PM »
So, it was a typically quiet afternoon at the strip mall GNC that I manage. I was taking a break and just hanging by the front door, to get some fresh air. A mother in her mid-30s walked by with three kids. The oldest was a girl about 8 years old, who was pushing a baby carriage with an infant in it. Following them was a little boy about 4 or 5 years old tops, who was wearing leg braces and was walking with crutches. I don't know what was wrong with him, but he looked like a smaller version of Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carroll--definitely not in good shape.

Something bugged me from the start as they all walked by--mainly the fact that neither the mother nor the 8-year-old daughter was watching the crippled kid--he was literally about 12 or 15 feet behind them. They walked at a "normal" pace, which the crippled kid obviously couldn't maintain. The gap between them widened, and nobody seemed to care.

The mother then veered off and walked into the parking lot, to get something from her mini van. The daughter kept going straight on the mall sidewalk (pushing the baby carriage), heading towards the pizza joint. The crippled kid brought up the rear.

Suddenly, the crippled boy made a beeline for his mom. I watched in horror as he aimlessly headed for the edge of the curb, like a clueless dog with no road sense. A million things went thru my head in that moment--I actually froze for a second, saying to myself, "Sh!t, that kid's just gonna walk into the street!"

He kept going.

And a car was coming.

I suddenly snapped out of the surreal state of mind I was in, and ran over to the kid shouting "WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" The kid heard me and stopped right at the edge of the curb. At that very instant, I ran in front of him to prevent him from going any further. The car stopped, and then proceeded cautiously. I looked over at the mother who was still by her car, staring in shock. She ran back and started yelling at the poor kid, "What are you doing? Don't you know to look both ways before you cross?" and blah, blah, blah. The kid started to cry. The mother said absolutely nothing to me--not even a simple "Thank you".

Man, that whole episode ticked me off. I don't mean to sound abrasive and/or judgemental, but that stupid woman should have been keeping an eye on her kid. Just the fact that she was letting him walk behind her (and quite far away at that) was just plain wrong. Maintain some sort of pace with the poor little guy! And then to just walk off to her van without looking at where he even was--what a friggin' idiot.

If I hadn't been working, I frankly would have told her off--but I didn't know what kind of ramifications would be involved, so I checked myself.

But I was SO tempted.

Stupid friggin' @#!%&.

Anyway, I said a couple of prayers afterwards--one thanking God for enabling me to save the little guy, and one asking God to make sure that the little guy gets treated better by his mom in the future.

What a crazy experience...
"And the rapier blades, being so narrow and of so small substance, and made of a very hard temper to fight in private frays... do presently break and so become unprofitable." --Sir John Smythe, 1590

Guard Dog

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2004, 11:05:43 PM »
In all honesty,
  I can't see anything wrong with what you did; in fact you did everything you should have.

Gruhn
Ryan “Guard Dog” Gruhn
Guro / DBMAA Business Director
Dog Brothers Martial Arts Association
"Smuggling Concepts Across the Frontiers of Style”
ryan@dogbrothers.com | www.dogbrothers.com

Spadaccino

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2004, 04:17:24 AM »
Quote from: ryangruhn
In all honesty,
  I can't see anything wrong with what you did; in fact you did everything you should have.

Gruhn


I'm well aware that I did the right thing--I have no doubt that the kid would have been clipped by that car had I not intervened--but I am personally appalled at the mother's indifference to her child, before, during, and after the incident in question.  

Like I said, I just pray that the kid gets treated better than that from now on.
"And the rapier blades, being so narrow and of so small substance, and made of a very hard temper to fight in private frays... do presently break and so become unprofitable." --Sir John Smythe, 1590

Guard Dog

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2004, 05:03:31 AM »
Quote from: Spadaccino
Quote from: ryangruhn
In all honesty,
  I can't see anything wrong with what you did; in fact you did everything you should have.

Gruhn


I'm well aware that I did the right thing--I have no doubt that the kid would have been clipped by that car had I not intervened--but I am personally appalled at the mother's indifference to her child, before, during, and after the incident in question.  

Like I said, I just pray that the kid gets treated better than that from now on.


Yeah,
  I deal with this kind of thing on a daily basis working with kids.  Parents over look their kids especially in a larger family.  It's a shame but it is also part of life.

Gruhn
Ryan “Guard Dog” Gruhn
Guro / DBMAA Business Director
Dog Brothers Martial Arts Association
"Smuggling Concepts Across the Frontiers of Style”
ryan@dogbrothers.com | www.dogbrothers.com

Anonymous

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2004, 08:16:28 AM »
You should have kicked her ass.


























;D

Anonymous

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2004, 08:35:07 AM »
you should have put the fang choke on the her.

Guard Dog

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2004, 09:09:07 AM »
Thanks for the comments guest, I wish we knew who you were; it is a lot easier to say those kinds of things when no one can tell who is talking.  Crafty I think this is a good example of why we should possibly take the guest option off the public site.

Gruhn
Ryan “Guard Dog” Gruhn
Guro / DBMAA Business Director
Dog Brothers Martial Arts Association
"Smuggling Concepts Across the Frontiers of Style”
ryan@dogbrothers.com | www.dogbrothers.com

Tiny

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #7 on: September 28, 2004, 10:15:19 AM »
I think the crux of the issue is that a great many people who shouldn't be parents, are.  Subsequently, other individuals (oddly enough I find that many of them are in the martial arts), due to an increased awareness, or possibly just level of intelligence, feel a burden of responsibility and act accordingly.  Hero archetype or complex, call it what you like, but it's there.  Not surprisingly, such efforts often go unnoticed, totally unappreciated, or in rare circumstances, cause a backlash from ineffectual so-called "people."

At any rate, I can't tell you how many times I've done something honorable only to end up swearing that it's the last time I'm ever going to help anyone.

Thought some thoughtful response to this was in order given replies by "guests."

It's an interesting question though:  how many MA-ers have a greater sense of social accountability, or feel as though no one else on the planet appears to be paying attention?  Is martial training psychological linked to a sense of responsibility?  Is "Tiny" just full of sh-t and a source of endless rhetorical questions?  

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Spadaccino

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #8 on: September 29, 2004, 06:03:13 AM »
Hello Tiny,

Quote from: Tiny
I think the crux of the issue is that a great many people who shouldn't be parents, are.


Unfortunately,  that appears to be the case all too often.

 
Quote
Subsequently, other individuals (oddly enough I find that many of them are in the martial arts), due to an increased awareness, or possibly just level of intelligence, feel a burden of responsibility and act accordingly.  Hero archetype or complex, call it what you like, but it's there.  Not surprisingly, such efforts often go unnoticed, totally unappreciated, or in rare circumstances, cause a backlash from ineffectual so-called "people."


I'll confess that I've always tried to combine my martial arts training with a distinct moral code.  I'm honestly not trying to romanticize the past; we are today often shocked and disgusted by human behavior that was frankly much more common in Ancient, Medieval, & Renaissance times, all over the world.  Modern martial artists are often keen on emulating some sort of bushido code or chivalric ideal--systems of conduct that  were in fact adhered to comparatively rarely by the majority of samurai and knights, in centuries past.  However, those ideals did exist back then, and there were some warriors who lived up to those concepts as much as possible.

So yeah, I can say that I'm a fan of folks like Marcus Aurelius (the follower of the Stoic tradition who was the last of the so-called "Good Emperors" of Rome), the Seigneur de Bayard (le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche--?the knight without fear and without reproach"), Jose Rizal (the Filipino hero who was both a man of the sword, and a man of letters), GM Leo Giron (the WWII eskrimador who became one of the first to teach FMA to the public, after the 1966 murder of 8 nursing students in Chicago), and the nameless wandering Ronin who, when offered food by frightened villagers who really had none to spare, pulled out a toothpick and claimed he had already eaten (even though he hadn't).

Quote
At any rate, I can't tell you how many times I've done something honorable only to end up swearing that it's the last time I'm ever going to help anyone.


I hear what you're saying, and I know what you mean.  

Quote
Thought some thoughtful response to this was in order given replies by "guests."


It's much appreciated.

Quote
It's an interesting question though:  how many MA-ers have a greater sense of social accountability, or feel as though no one else on the planet appears to be paying attention?


All I can say is that, in general, not enough people pay attention.  Too many folks just don't seem to care about... anything.

 
Quote
Is martial training psychological linked to a sense of responsibility?


I feel that, at least on the higher levels, it most definitely is.  Again, the old chivalric ideals are concerned with such things.  For example, Medieval Europeans had some rather interesting and charming notions about the elephant, which were incorporated into the knightly code.  It was believed in Medieval times that the elephant used its trunk to blow ants and other small animals out of its path, so that it would not step on them when walking.  The elephant was thus seen as the physical manifestation of "the non-abuse of great power"--a concept which the knights themselves struggled with.  Some were more successful than others, in that struggle.

 
Quote
Is "Tiny" just full of sh-t and a source of endless rhetorical questions?


Hardly, sir.  You bring up issues which should be of greater concern to everyone, IMO.

Thanks,

David/Spad/TFS
"And the rapier blades, being so narrow and of so small substance, and made of a very hard temper to fight in private frays... do presently break and so become unprofitable." --Sir John Smythe, 1590

Anonymous

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2004, 04:09:50 AM »
Quote from: ryangruhn
Thanks for the comments guest, I wish we knew who you were; it is a lot easier to say those kinds of things when no one can tell who is talking.  Crafty I think this is a good example of why we should possibly take the guest option off the public site.

Gruhn



< 1st Guest, not the second one

I was being ironical. I was just expressing something we have probably all felt when witnessing a parent being so mind-numbingly stupid, even if acting on that feeling is a really wrong idea. I didn't mean to be factecious or glib in any way.




cheers


Alex

Anonymous

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2004, 09:27:59 AM »
hi,
 im the 2nd guest.i thought what i said was funny.come on now,how better to deal with things like that then with humor?iv gone well out of my way to help someone olny to have them be a fucking asshole about it.and maybe it should have been just a good shot to the knee insted of the fang choke.


            smile,
             cameron

Anonymous

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Saved a little kid's life today...
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2004, 01:06:24 PM »
Quote from: Anonymous
hi,
 im the 2nd guest.i thought what i said was funny.come on now,how better to deal with things like that then with humor?iv gone well out of my way to help someone olny to have them be a fucking asshole about it.and maybe it should have been just a good shot to the knee insted of the fang choke.


            smile,
             cameron


Humor should be used tastefully, not carelessly.  I personally think that it was a serious situation, at least serious enough for him to want to post and any tasteless humor might be looked at as being careless.  I understand your intentions and I do agree humor is a great way to deal with situations like this, just as long as its tasteful.

Gruhn