Today I got frightened. Frightened for a woman and frightened for her child. Frightened for what kind of life I imagine they must have. Everything happened in a few seconds & I will never know what was really going on.
I was driving to a shopping centre (I am not going to say which one because this could happen anywhere, not just in this particular suburb) and I saw a woman and child walking along the footpath. The child must have been about 4. As I was nearing them a car with a male driver pulled up, she stopped, startled, yelled someting & started running from him. He jumped out of the car & started chasing her, yelling. The child hadn't even had time to react before I had driven past.
What do you do in a situation like this?
I don't know what happened to the woman. I was so shaken. My instinct was that he was going to catch her & thump her. I kept checking in my rearview mirror but they were out of sight, having run off the footpath & towards houses (which is the only way you can run when a car pulls up & someone jumps out at you).
There were some workmen up ahead so I pulled up & called them over to ask them to drive down & make sure the woman was okay. I had visions of this man beating this woman up. And the child having to watch it happen. I didn't see much as I was driving at 60k's but I could see that she was frightened.
One of the workmen offered to call the police because he thought I was being chased, but then he figured out what I was saying (I was almost in tears & my voice was doing the shaking thing by now). He could see the car I was talking about (we were a bit further along the road now) & could see the guy getting back into it & taking off pretty quickly. So the workman took a good look at him & noted the rego as he passed us.
The whole thing was over in only 3 or 4 minutes so we figured there wouldn't have been time for the guy to have "done much" (terrible phrase but I am lost on how to describe it) to the woman. I hope the truth is that she got away in time & into a house & got the child inside too.
It makes me wonder how people get into, and stay in these kinds of relationships. I have never been in a volatile relationship so am not pretending I know anything about it. I realise some women don't have the confidence to leave, or they love him, or he promises it won't happen again, or whatever. And what does it do to the children? Do they grow up thinking that this behaviour is normal? I'm not judging, I'm not preaching, I'm just saying. This is my personal observation, that's all. It just makes me appreciate even more what a wonderful man I married and that the life I have is truly blessed.
Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.
Karen xx
3 comments:
Wow, Karen, I can imagine how horrible it would have been to see that but even more horrible for that woman and child to have to deal with that!
Unfortunately, in my suburb, I see a fair bit of this sort thing happening and it makes me wonder why they stay :(
oh my gosh!!! My heart is now racing! That poor child - I hope that the little person is ok. They are not given a choice on whether or not they are involved. How horrible to have happened in public where passers by are forced to be involved.Life can be very strange. Unfortunately, this behaviour is all too common!
Karen that made me feel sick i hope they are both ok and i hope your ok too xx
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