This week I saw lack of government action in helping women. It was not pretty.
After working late one night my wife came into the City to have a quick bite to eat with me. After eating, we went home on the DC Metro and upon departing the Metro we saw a man chasing a woman through the lobby area of our metro stop. He was heading straight into our direction and bumped my wife running past her. If I hadn’t pulled my wife back, the man chasing the woman would have knocked my wife over.
The woman being chased pounded on the window of the booth where the WMATA employees were. The man giving chase caught up to her as she had nowhere else to go. An argument ensued. Another man saw what was happening and silently stepped in between the arguing couple, as the man who had been chasing the woman kept trying to grab the woman. I joined the man in silently standing in between the couple. The WMATA employees were not moving from inside the booth and the large, muscular employee on the outside of the booth was simply standing there.
I knocked on the window of the booth and told the employees inside “Get out here! Do your job!” After I knocked on the window, a short, pudgy employee came out of the booth. At the same time, the woman ran and the man gave chase again. The employee did not come out after the man who was chasing the woman but rather towards me and blocked me from going after the man who was again going after the woman.
The short, pudgy employee said to me “What did you say to me?” I told the employee “Do your job! “ The employee then said “You need to step away.” I said to the employee, “Step away, there is a woman being chased and you are doing nothing.” The employee said again “Step away.” At this time, the tall, muscular WMATA employee finally intervened and stopped the man who had been chasing the woman. I looked the WMATA employee who was in front of me in the eye and said, “A man’s job is to protect a woman. “
My wife and I “stepped away” when the WMATA employee finally stepped in. We went home talking about the apathy we had seen with government employees in this and other situations such as in the school systems. Even at this particular DC Metro station, I had also seen people passing through without paying while “security” did nothing about it and in fact were some of the culprits in letting people pass.
Sadly, this attitude seems to be indicative of so many government agencies we run across. Women are not protected and government employees step in and get mad when they are offended by law abiding citizens; not the criminals.
My wife and I also remembered the person from New York City that we talked to as we walked into the metro before all this happened. This person, a female, told us that she was very thankful to have learned how to use weapons in New York City as her father was a police officer. She said the training she received from her father saved her life several times when men have accosted her late at night. Her belief was that every woman should be armed as women are amongst the most vulnerable members of our society, that there are a lot of crazy people out there who in their craziness would overpower a woman, and that it was sad that liberated women have been so conditioned with such a fear of firearms. It was a reaffirmation of the change in thinking I had seen in my life.
The truth is there are not men around to protect women all the time and very often the government will not be there to help either. All the more reason women should learn how to safely handle and fire weapons.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member