At one point I walked around a young father and his little boy. I realized with horror the father was teaching his young son to throw rocks at the baby alligators.
I said "Please don't throw rocks at the alligators." Honest to God, I said it calmly. He told me to mind my own business. I replied "This IS my business, you are hurting animals." He instructed me to keep walking. By then my husband was at my side, trying to explain to the man that this was not lawful, and there is a fine for this action. The man again told us both to keep walking and mind our own business.
I'm sorry, but when I become angry, I lose my mind. I am emotionally unable to walk away from a fight. I've always been this way. I can't help it. Grown ass morons brutalizing children or animals is a huge trigger for me. I'm not bragging, folks. Sometimes my reactions scare me.
So this unpleasant encounter escalated into a war of words, screaming even, as we walked away. I feel guilty about the little boy.
Right and wrong. So easy to say, so hard to figure out.
I am sorry you had this experience. Shame on that man for teaching his son to be cruel to animals. Are there rangers patrolling this park? Maybe you could have reported the father to them? I would have been upset, too, but I don't know what I would have done. You were brave to speak up but it sounds like you regret getting angrier. It was an upsetting event for sure. Thanks for your honesty in sharing this story.
ReplyDeleteI looked around for a patrol car (small park, no rangers) but there were none.
DeleteI tend to avoid encounters with lunatics, but if it is unlawful to throw rocks at alligators I would have walked on and called the police right away. I understand the desire to tell the guy to stop, but we live in such volatile times, I'm not very brave. OTOH, in my wildest dreams I would have a bat in my hands and I would be swinging it madly.
ReplyDeleteBIG smile!
DeleteOmg....I'm so sorry you had to run into this cretin of a human and his unfortunate offspring! Arrgh, it makes me mad just reading this!!! So I totally understand your reaction.
ReplyDeleteIt was immediate and uncontrollable.
DeleteWell, for what it's worth, you did the right thing for the alligators by intervening -- although it could have been even scarier for you if the guy had responded more violently. You just never know what people will do nowadays! I, for one, am glad you spoke your mind, and hopefully the kid will remember being challenged and forever think twice about throwing rocks at animals.
ReplyDeleteThat's my hope, too. That after the anger and embarrassment leaves them, they will think about what they were doing.
DeleteThanks, Chilly.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It was so upsetting to come upon it at such a beautiful place.
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you and I think I would have done the same - provided the guy didn't look like a real danger mutt. It doesn't even matter whether it was alligators or baby rats or an old tree. That dad may have some explaining to do. Maybe not now, maybe later.
ReplyDeleteMy hope is that he took the boy home to his ex wife (sheer fantasy) and the boy told his mother, and the mother said, "Never, ever throw rocks at animals."
DeletePerhaps you made an impression on the lad, or you became his father's fuel to continue raising him as an entitled brat.
ReplyDeleteThe child was only about 5 years old. I'm a little old lady, so I'm sure it made some kind of impression on him that I would scold his father about hurting animals. But who knows what kind of impression I made?
DeleteAnd it's quite possible he was carrying a gun. Doing so seems to invest certain people with the belief they are above the law.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the law would say about photographing him and then reporting him to the police. Would you be interfering with his civil rights?
In Florida, it is very likely a stranger is carrying a gun. With the rage I felt at that moment, I would have taken a bullet for those baby alligators. Stupid, stupid, I know. But I must have been a Berserker in a former life. I wonder if I can ever learn to keep my mouth shut and my quick temper under control?
DeleteI honestly think photographing him would have pushed him over the edge. And without knowing his name, I'm not sure it would have done any good.
He was.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of rage is something I have, too, when children and animals are abused. Not only was the father encouraging cruelty to animals, he was remorseless in his abandonment of his 5-year-old son because, in truth, a boy with a father like that already has no father. Because you didn't back down and showed no fear of his father, my gut feeling is that the boy will remember this incident. You did what you had to do. Someone had to do it.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, intervening, but how typical that he used the old "none of your business" line. Do you think he'd enjoy it if someone threw rocks at HIM?
ReplyDeleteYou were in the right. I'd probably have called the police.
ReplyDeleteYou are like me when it comes to protecting Animals and Children from Morons. I just did a Post about being Triggered by Stupid people. During the Pandemic I'm Emotionally Raw enough to have zero tolerance or restraint, so I would have had your back and been equally outraged. Only when these Idiots are Shamed or suffer severe consequences do they have any Hope of forced compliance to do what is Right and be confronted with what is Wrong and Intolerable to Society.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for speaking up. I'm sorry it was an unpleasant encounter. Hopefully you made a positive impression on the child that will stay with him. The adult...what a knucklehead. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteWell done you for standing up to a bully, and for not backing down. What can we expect from children of the future if this is what they learn from parents?
ReplyDelete