First, let me set the scene.
It’s 4:45 pm on a Friday afternoon. We are in the Shorewood Village complex witch houses the library, a mini-park, the village hall, and the police station, viewed from left to right across your imaginary field of vision.
I pull up in front of the library to drop off a book. Before leaving the car, I noticed a group of 6 to 8 middle school aged kids (2 boys, the rest girls) rough-housing in the little park area. In the 15 seconds it takes for me to walk to the book drop-off and back to my car, I hear these kids loudly using foul language and sort of picking on the smallest girl. They didn’t look like they wanted to hurt the girl but she was pissed.
My Mark Skarich Switch was triggered but not enough that I wanted to insert myself in the situation. Honestly, I could picture it elevating to a “it’s none of your business, honky” scene and I just wanted to get to my hair cut appointment. So what did I do?
I called the Shorewood non-emergency number and said, “hi. I know I sound like an old lady, but there are some kids right next store that are picking on one of their own. If there is someone in uniform with nothing better to do, they could probably stand a visit from authority.”
Surprisingly to me, the operator didn’t sigh at my ridiculous complaint. Instead, she asked if it was a little girl and said that someone was already on it.
That’s why I love my little village.
But tell me, how would you have reacted to this situation?
And while you think about it… GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
