I found myself in a real moral dilemma yesterday on my way home from dropping Sophie off at Kindy. I was pulled up at a set of lights playing peekaboo with Elliott in the rear vision mirror, when I noticed a whole lot of commotion going on outside his window. There was a boy in a high school uniform racing towards an elderly lady and a girl, aged all of about 5, still wearing her pyjamas. The boy had a phone to his ear and swiftly handed it over to the frantic elderly lady. I turned down my stereo, wound down my window and had my attention quickly drawn to the domestic dispute unfolding further down the street...
There was a big burly bloke with a shaved head wearing a dirty grey singlet and filthy black jeans. He looked drunk, drugged out and exhausted...and the way he was yelling at a lady who was presumably his partner was not adding to his charm. The lady he was yelling at was in her pyjamas and dressing gown, frantically trying to get something out of the mans arms. As he turned to the side, I saw that he was holding a baby! This precious little baby was still so fresh that it had the downy whispy hair that they all seem to be blessed with in the first couple of months until it gets any real weight to it. The horrible man was ignoring the ladies pleas and pushing her away as she attempted to grab her baby back. She was begging him not to take her baby but he was in a real craze and would not listen to reason. The light turned green and the traffic began moving forward...and this is where my dilemma really began.
At first I was shocked that no one was stopping to help this poor woman. I desperately wanted to stop and help but Elliott's giggles from the back seat quickly made my decision for me. There was no way I was stopping the car on the side of a busy road in a situation like this and putting my own child at risk. Had I of been on my own, there is no question that I would have stopped and helped as best I could. With such precious cargo however, I couldn't stop and risk Elliott getting hurt or even getting injured myself in such a way that might prevent me from protecting him! It was heartbreaking driving away from the situation, especially as I looked out of my rear vision mirror and saw the foolish man dart across the road, baby in his arms, traffic zooming by and the lady desperately following behind him. I felt totally and utterly helpless.
Hindsight is of course 20/20 and I was thinking last night that I could have driven to a dear friends house that was close by (that's you Aunty Kat!!) and dumped Elliott in her arms and raced back to help, but I didn't think of that at the time. And of course, who is to say my intervention would have been well received? I quite possibly would have been adding fuel to the fire. I knew that the high school boy and the old lady were on the phone to the police so there was no need for me to call them so I guess there really was nothing that I could have done to help in that situation.
It really does raise a moral issue for me. I know I did the right thing by keeping my own child safe but it still doesn't make me feel any better about just driving away from a scene like that. I knew the police had been contacted and there were bystanders ready to help but I still feel like crap for not stopping. What do you think you would have done in the same situation....?
2 comments:
Mmm that's a real tricky one. As I was reading this I thought 'Call the Police' so as long as you were confident the police had been called there was not a mot more you could have done and still kept yourself and Elliott safe. Lets hope the Police were abe to get there to help some people who were really in need.
Thanks Mum. I think I did the right thing too, for Elliott's sake at least. I am very confident the police were called so I am with you; I hope they got there swiftly and remedied the horrible situation.
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