How Inconsiderate!

On an early morning trek to an exercise class my car was brought to a dead stop in the otherwise fluid traffic to the bridge leading out of town. Craning my neck to see what the problem was, up ahead on the two-lane street a car had stopped in the oncoming lane, its flashers blinking. Parked against a red curb only a few feet from a No Parking Any Time sign, two men were exiting the car and moving toward a group of people on the sidewalk. From a distance I thought they must be helping to load or unload something into or from their car. How inconsiderate, I thought as cars slowly made their way around this discourteous delay. Only as I got closer did I understand what was happening.

It was a dog fight, a nasty one at that. Several people were trying to pull two large dogs off another big dog pinned to the ground. Each time the attacking dogs were restrained they broke loose to resume their assault. One of the men from the illegally parked car finally prevailed and the dogs were separated. As I made my way passed, the dog that had been injured was on its feet, its owner on one knee examining its throat. One of the offending dogs' owners was saying over and over, “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!”

She wasn’t the only one who was sorry. As I drove over the bridge and on my way, I realized how quickly I had come to judgement against the parked car’s driver. Far from being inconsiderate, he and his passenger had bravely risked their lives to intervene in a dangerous dog fight that very easily could have meant the death of someone’s beloved companion. Not only that, he had the presence of mind to hit the flashers before leaving his car. Admiration exacerbated my chagrin and mistaken assessment. Inconvenient as his decision was for the rest of us, in fact it only cost me maybe a minute of my time.

There’s a popular maxim that states: If you see something, say something. Perhaps an appropriate add-on would be And if possible, DO something. Law enforcement correctly discourages any civilian involvement that might put themselves or others in harm’s way, may well be illegal or, worse case scenario, could impede police intervention. That being said, I very much believe we all are each other’s keeper in the broadest sense. There is a beautiful Irish proverb that I love that says,

It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.