As soon as I stepped out of the supermarket, loud voices caught my attention. I was greeted by the sight of two aggressive youths confronting a foreign worker who was seated.
“What’s your problem?” one of the youths demanded irritably.
“What did I do?” the foreign worker asked.
An evident hush had descended by then as everybody’s eyes were fixated on the drama that was unfolding. “Why did you knock into my girl-friend?” the youth demanded as he glowered at the clueless man. The man gave a blank stare as he could not comprehend the question with his limited command of the English language.
Out of the blue came a shrill voice, “Beat him up!” It was then that I noticed a girl standing at the side. From their behavior and appearance, there was no doubt that the trio was troublemakers. Without warning, the two aggressors began to rain kicks and punches upon the hapless foreigner who was cowering in fear as he tried to protect himself from the relentless blows. The stunned crowd watched in silence as the injured man coughed out some blood.
What was even more appalling was the apathy of most of the bystanders—they were watching with great interest but none stood forward to help. In the meantime, the girl was egging the attackers on as she waved her umbrella, shrieking, “Give it to him! Give it to him!”
There was no doubt that many feared being the next victim should they decide to intervene. Choosing to do the most sensible thing, I moved to a corner and called the police. It was then that two middle-aged men stepped in to try to stop the ruffians. The aggressive youths hit out at the men while the men tried to block the blows without hitting back. It seemed like the men wanted to avoid hurting the youths. I was with much relief that the police arrived soon after. While it was gallantry on the part of the two men, the indifference of the bystanders was disturbing and certainly an issue of societal concern.
- apathy showing no interest in something important
- egg on to strongly encourage someone to do something
- gallantry police and kind in public