Fistfights are on my mind this week. I don’t recall ever being part of one and for that I’m thankful. There are other, better ways to resolve our differences. Perhaps that opinion renders me unqualified to express thoughts on two fistfight incidents that were in the news this week. Or, perhaps, I’m just the right person.
Locally, in central Ohio, details remain unclear (at this writing) but it is reported that two girls met last week in what is believed to have been a planned combat. When one of the girls fell to the ground two other girls joined in, continuing to beat her. According to news reports, close to twenty others were present, about half of them recording the fight on cellphones. No one tried to break up the fight. One person thought to notify police. The victim remains hospitalized a week later with a ruptured spleen, broken ribs and internal bleeding.
Two days ago, a fight broke out between several women on a Spirit Airlines plane, just after it landed. It seems that music was being played on a boom box a little too loudly for other passengers’ comfort. A fight ensued, complete with hair pulling, kicking, and a punch thrown, before police and FBI were called to the scene and the women calmed down.
Friday Food For Thought…
There are so many concerning issues in these two stories…how quick some people are to physically fight, why a disagreement over common courtesy escalated so quickly, why cell phone video took precedence over reporting a crime, why teens would schedule combat, why anyone was carrying a boom box…OK, that last one just made me chuckle.
In all seriousness, however, here’s the most important question to ponder:
If children are witnessing adults handle their differences with physical fighting (whether they see it live, on TV news or online video), can we really be so outraged that they handle their disagreements the same way?
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Photo credit: “Fist” by Walt Stoneburner, used with Creative Commons license.
