Enough is Enough

I'm going to deviate from my usual ramblings about the news world to focus on something semi-close to home.  And it all stems from an early-morning wake-up call I had today.

It wasn't my usual alarm bells ringing on my cellphone signaling the start of the work day.  It wasn't the sound of cars passing by, emergency vehicles screaming off to the scene of something or the typical tomfoolery that happens when you live relatively close to the infamous 17th Avenue SW strip in Calgary (aka the stretch formerly known as the Red Mile).

I awoke at 6am to the soothing sounds of a marital spat.  "You f****** b****" and "f*** off and die you piece of s***" were just a couple of the loving gestures hurled at one another.  Took me about a minute or so to evaluate the situation, knock the crumbs out of my eyes and realize it was 6am.

Perhaps I was tired and maybe a little cranky, but it got to that point that I felt like I needed to intervene and at least let everyone else on my street enjoy a little more sleep before the work day started.  So I stumbled my way to the patio door, walked out onto the balcony and yelled back at them to have some respect for their neighbours, go home and get some sleep.  I also told the guy that "that's no way to speak to a lady".

Of course I received the response I was kind of expecting: "go f*** yourself", which set off an interesting exchange of pleasantries.  They were both obviously drunk, so it wasn't worth getting too worked up over it, other than to try to prove my point then go back to bed.  He persisted for a little bit and I just kept on message that they needed to be adults.  Eventually it winded down with a "mind your own business" from him, to which I said "the minute you woke me and the rest of the neighbourhood up, it became my business." I've become pretty good at thinking on my feet working in the media.  And that was enough for him to walk away grumbling.  They went back inside and I didn't hear a peep out of them for the rest of the morning.

Unfortunately, this story probably plays out a lot more than most would care to admit.  What I don't like is when people stand by and watch without doing anything, then grumble about it afterwards.  I'm going to be full of cliches here, but we have to be the change we want to see (or something like that).  If we don't want a world where spousal abuse, sexual assault or heinous crimes against children happen, then don't stand around and watch it without acting.  And I mean anything of the issues that people get up in arms about (oh hi there "bullying", so we meet again).  It doesn't matter who "started it".  It doesn't matter that it's a nice guy/girl.  The excuses don't matter.  Cliche #2: if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

Each and every day, I want to be part of the solution.