No One Helped This Lady When She Wanted To Bring An LRT Bully To The Police
A woman stood up to a bully for verbally insulting her and her family members in a crowded LRT. Instead of offering aid, onlookers refused to help her bring the man to the police station and even urged her to forgive him for his shameful actions.
By Samantha Khor — 20 Apr 2015, 06:05 PM
What would you do if you witnessed a bully verbally assault a young woman on the LRT? If Leroux Yap's story is any indication, some would rather stand by and let things slide instead of speaking out for a helpless victim.
In a viral FB post dating 17 April, Yap described a harrowing ordeal in which his sister was verbally abused by a rude passenger in a crowded LRT during peak hours. All because she stared at the bully in question after he tried to forcefully push himself into the train.
Yap's sister brushed off the insults... until he graduated to spouting obscenities about their family. Enough was enough; she went ahead and slapped him in the face for blatantly disrespecting her family members in public.
Like a true gentleman, the abrasive man punched Yap's sister. It was then that the crowd finally responded to the growing conflict in their midst, though not in the way you'd expect.
Before continuing with what happened next at the LRT incident, Yap noted that his sister had previously encountered a molester on the train but failed to have him arrested as her fellow commuters refused to help her in bringing the guy to the police station
Similarly in the LRT incident, no one was willing to help her bring the abusive man to the police and act as her witness even after she begged them to
Meanwhile, the bully lost all sense of bravado the moment Yap's sister threatened to get the police involved and began to beg her for forgiveness. Knowing that it was an apology spurred on by fear and not sincerity, she refused to accept it.
Much to her disappointment, people around them urged her to accept his apology and not make a big fuss over the entire thing. In the end, the bully got away scot-free.
What transpired in the coach revealed a serious problem with the general mentality when it comes to dealing with conflict - ignore and hope that it either (a) blows away or (b) someone else comes forward to resolve it.
In this case, the commuters did not only stand by and watch while Yap's sister was being harrassed in their presence, they pushed her towards accepting his apology and implicated that she was the one at fault for insisting on bringing him to the police.
Sure, haters are best ignored and violence is not a solution to conflict, but how will we advance as a morally progressive society if we to choose turn our backs on public harassment?
In fact, Yap questioned if ignoring bullies and letting them go without repercussions is the right thing to do. Who's to say they will not go back to their old ways and even go one step further in their misdeeds?
In his post, Yap urged the public to change their mindset about taking the initiative to lend a helping hand for our fellow humans instead of waiting for and assuming that someone else will do it
