The Cruel and the Innocent

This is a story to remind you how cruel people can be.

I was stopping to get gas while on my way to work. While entering the store to pre-pay for my gas I noticed a commotion in a car that I was passing. A woman was repeatedly striking a child that was in the back seat crying. I will refer to this child as Baby Jane, as I do not know her real name. Baby Jane was in a toddler carseat and could not have been more than two years old.

Baby Jane was screaming and the woman was saying “I told you to shut it up!”

Yeah, hitting her will get her to be quiet.

I continued into the store even though every fiber of my being wanted to yank that woman out of the car and show her what it feels like. I was kicking myself at the register and I decided to grab a pen and a piece of paper. I was going to get the tag number and report the scene to the proper authorities.

With my mind made up, I started out of the store.

What I saw horrified me.

The woman had gotten out of the car and walked around to Baby Jane’s door. She had opened the door and had grabbed Baby Jane by the arm to pull her out of the car. The woman, in her anger, had not unstrapped Jane completely. She yanked Jane’s arm so hard the crying toddler came out of the car with the carseat still attached.

I was frozen in fear and disgust. I couldn’t believe that no one in the parking lot was intervening. In retrospect, I think they were trying to “mind their own business.” Whatever.

The woman began shaking Baby Jane out of the carseat. Enough was enough. If I had been thinking with my head and not my emotions I would have reacted differently. I would have said “I am calling the police” to get her to stop. Then I would have proceeded to do so.

But, I was thinking with my emotions. I was angry. So angry I was shaking and my vision was blacking over.

I ran over to the woman and screamed “What are you thinking? Are trying to kill her?”

The woman told me it was her granddaughter, and she could punish her any way she saw fit.

I told her that wasn’t punishment it was abuse. I informed her of my hatred for child abusers. I told her if she ever did it again, I would hunt her down and inflect every form of abuse on her that she had inflicted on Jane. I never once thought about the fact that Baby Jane could hear what I was saying -- that despite what this woman was doing Baby Jane still loved her.

I wish I had reacted differently. I didn't. People can be cruel, even the people who are trying to stop the cruelty. This was two years ago, and I still think about that experience. I wonder how Baby Jane is doing today.