A flock of sheep

I have another rant just so I can get a good night's rest.

Today I was on the subway fully immersed in this week's economist pg 37 and this foul man started saying these inappropriate things to a girl and her mom who were minding their own business. He appeared to be interested in the girl and offered her a lollipop and then proceeded to say even more inappropriate things to the girl and then to her mom who was politely trying to ignore him. I felt bad for her and it made steaming mad that this man (in his right mind or not) was able to get away with what qualifies as harassment. No one said a word and I said to myself "stop being such a chicken shit and say something". So I blurted out in an angry voice, "hey why don't you leave her alone?!?" and I asked the woman if she was okay.

That did it. The guy lost his focus on the girl and mom and glared at me (and of course I'm like, yeah, I know why people on the subway mind their own business because it's full of crazies, but that's expected in a city of 8.1 million people crammed into 321 square miles). He started yelling at me and got off the train as I did. After he had insulted me, I guess because I was in the wrongdoing, he walked away. A younger guy then came up to me and told me that I was right to speak up.

I guess what really bothered me was that I almost didn't speak up because I was afraid of the consequences. I almost didn't stand up for my ideals or defend somebody who getting bullied on...you know justify it by saying it's their problem. Me and the 50 other people on that packed train were probably all thinking the same thing about this jerk and wondered if we should do something...