Some situations are viewed in black and white; right and wrong. Yet, many people think situations also have a grey area where solutions are not so easily discerned. This is not just about the choices people make, but the thought process they go through to arrive at their decisions.
Submitted for Your Discussion & Consideration
It’s the weekend before Halloween, and you take your teenagers out to a “haunted house” type attraction. Your kids are excited at the prospect of being scared!
After waiting in line about half an hour, you and your family enter the haunted house. It’s dark, includes walks along wooded paths and clouds of fog, and frightening characters jump out at you along the way. You’re having a great time. The kids are screaming and giggling.
You notice a group of teenagers ahead of you. They are loud and you hear them even above the noise of fake thunder and ghoulish wails. One is yelling, “Get him!”
A moment later one of the attraction workers jumps out at the teens. Before he can even swing his fake chain saw, one of the tall teens punches him in the face. Your kids and spouse didn’t see it and they continue forward. You move ahead of them and approach the chain saw man, asking if he is all right. Real blood is running down his face and his eyes are watering; he says he is fine.
You and your family start moving again. Around the next corner the teenagers are visible again. They are laughing, and as you watch they push over someone in front of them.
What do you think of their behavior? Do you feel that you should do something to stop them? Do you think it would be dangerous to confront them? Or would you think it more prudent to tell someone else what you saw? Who should handle the situation, if not you? Should it be the people running the attraction, the teenagers’ parents, or the police?
“Reprint” from 10/15/2012 newspaper.
