Snap!
 

Here I am in sunny Hawai'i and all is well with the world. Right? Wrong.

One of the downfalls of dealing with depression is that even if things are peachy keen everywhere, a depressed person can always find a sad thing to focus on.

My parents live next door to what is no doubt the meanest person alive. I don't know her story and I don't know anything about her, but this morning I woke up suddenly to the sound of this lady beating and swearing at her 8 year old child.

"You put your shirt on backwards you stupid sh!t..." Slap slap and so on.

Brad sat and listened to it for a second and after the shock of the situation wore off, I decided that I would be more Boston (in your face) in this situation than Hawaiian (no make waves, okay brah?).

I went right up to the fence that separated the property from my parents and said the following. If you can imagine a pidgin accent, you'll get the gist of it:

"Eh, lady! You too loud. Enuff already. You wakin' up the entire neighborhood. Stop yellin' already." I said.

"Shut your ass." She said.

"If you don't stop hittin' that kid, I goin' call child services on your ass and you goin' to jail. Eh, it's supposed to be Christmas time, no? What you never heard of being nice or what? My parents are too nice to say anything to you, but I ain't nice. Aunty, you no like go jail..."

No response. The kid stopped crying and all is silent in that house and has been that way for 2 hours.



I don't know if I did the right thing, but I just snapped. Plain and simple. If there's anything that I abhor it's bullying, abusive parents and ignorance.

I told her that as long as I'm in the house if I hear that again, I will turn her ass in.



Yes, it opened a can of worms for my parents, but one's a former cop and the other is a childrens' welfare counselor... I feel like something should have been done already by them... (This abuse apparently has been going on for months...)

One good thing came out of my depression today. This morning the beating stopped for this little girl. If it lasts for only today, I feel alright about what I did.

Good job. I think you should call and report what you heard anyways. Don't wait for the "next time" because the police may not make it there in time.

Dude, I think you totally did the right thing! :snap:

That's awesome. Just remember, a threat is only as good as your follow-through. If it happens again, don't hesitate to call the authorities.

GC, good for you! I'm so glad you stepped up to the plate in this situation and I bet the child appreciates it as well. So sad that anyone would treat a little kid that way. You did the right thing.

Having said that, I wouldn't hesitate to call the authorities if you hear anything similar in the future.

You're amazing, GC! :) The world needs more people like you.

Brave and good. You did the right thing.

And once again you proved why Missy loved you from the moment she laid eye on you...you have a good soul and aren't afraid to put it out there for a defenseless child...I'm proud to call you friend.

Good job Brad! I would still call in a report for this incident. The system could be burdened with an abundance of cases and if there's a previous report, maybe that will get action sooner if there's a next time.

Good job! And I'm with the call the authorities anyway crowd. The more reports they have the more likely they are to do anything.