Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
On Thursday, September 4th, 2008, a hammer-wielding man, in the presence of his six-year-old son, attacked a rider on the Philadelphia subway system – apparently at random. This wasn’t news on the 4th; nor on the 5th, 6th or 7th. Indeed no one would have known about it except the victim, assailant, his son, and the ten other passengers in that subway car except that the subway authority released the video on September 8th hoping for assistance in identifying the assailant. Once that video was released the story was big news. True to the “news†policy of “
If it doesn’t bleed it doesn’t lead,†the major news agencies didn’t give the incident any time or attention until millions were watching the video and therefore caught up in the drama.
Now I know that I come from a military and police background and most assuredly I am more familiar with willingly entering into physical conflict than probably the large majority of our civilian population in this country today. That said, TEN other citizens couldn't come to the aid of the man who was being attacked?
To some extent I think he bears responsibility: after all, if you don't maintain awareness of your surroundings then you are a VERY willing victim. He was asleep on the Philadelphia subway. Still, that's his only contribution to being a victim of this crime. He didn't taunt his attacker; he didn't throw the first punch; he didn't spit on the man or anything else. His "crime" was being asleep on the subway. That earned him the sad distinction of being the target of an attempted murder.
Yes, attempted murder. When you take a hammer and hit someone repeatedly in the head and neck (beating them about the head and shoulders) you are trying to kill them. There is no other translation or interpretation. There can be no other motivation for your actions. That assailant INTENDED to murder that victim.
Now, I understand that a hammer is a dangerous weapon. Indeed, had someone attacked me with one - or even brandished it in a threatening manner within certain distances - when I was on duty, the person would get shot - repeatedly until I believed the threat had been neutralized. (I didn't say I'd kill him; if he drops the hammer the threat is neutralized) Let me make a comparison though and I think you'll see where I'm going with this:
A hammer is a deadly impact weapon. The person has to be within arm's reach to hurt you with it. A box cutter - or handled-affixed-razor-blade - is an edged weapon. The person has to be within arm's reach to cause you damage. Americans have, in the past, learned to face their fear of edged weapons and explosives to overcome greater fears of certain death and NOT FIGHTING BACK AGAINST TERRORISTS ATTACKING THE UNITED STATES.
Now I know that there's no way the guy with the hammer on the subway was going to hijack that subway car and use it as a tool of terrorism. I use the example to show that we Americans CAN overcome our fear to do courageous things if we're properly motivated. What's sad is the "IF we're properly motivated" part. Shouldn't we do courageous things simply because they are the right things to do?
TEN passengers did nothing. I was not among them. I am wrong for criticizing them because I wasn't there. As was pointed out on a popular online forum none of us can say what we would have done because we weren't there. Still, I can't help but think, they stood and watched as one human attempted to murder - and did as far as they knew until after the fact - another human being. Why? Because he could. How would it feel to wake up the next day knowing that you did nothing to prevent a senseless murder when you absolutely could have?
Some among us are warriors and willingly step into harm's way to protect the meek, innocent, or others. I know a Police Chaplain who believes that warriors run in family groups - that if your family has a warrior spririt then you are more likely too. In my mind that "warrior spirit" is a collection of values and beliefs that we learn to be willing to act upon and defend even in the face of fear or danger. America has seen that our citizens HAVE this ability. America has also seen far too many circumstances where our citizens don't exercise that ability.
What do we have to do to grow strong in this fashion again?
