I'm kinda shaken

[kimi]

I went out for a walk awhile ago, and in this new complex I live in, there are a lot of rabbits - ya know, wild ones. Well, about 4 kids out in front when I went out were shooting at a baby rabbit with a paintgun. I was appalled. Now, I'm a mild person, hate confrontation - it scares me, frankly. But I had to yell at that kid aiming with the paintgun "Are you shooting at that rabbit?" and he acted surprised and said no, although I knew damn well that he had been. Then, as I was walking away, I heard him laugh about something and heard "bitch", "rabbit", "dead", and -- it was weird. I don't know what came over me, I turned around and yelled back at him "WHAT did you say?" and again, he kind of shrugged and went off elsewhere.

I'm not like this, I don't call out punks, haven't come across any here since I moved to Iowa. But I just had this sense of -- I don't know if it was rage, it's not that strong, but it's something. I just wasn't scared. That's it - I was not scared, and this is new for me, I've been abused in the past and am not used to this feeling. It feels good.

And the rabbit got away.

I dunno, I just wanted to say that. Stoopid punk kids -- I'll confront em without a thought next time, too. Hey, this feels good. :)

[Deep13]

1. We're raising a generation of callous, sadistic, egocentric monsters.

While not universally true, it is enough of a trend to be truly disturbing.

[digonswine]

2. You should feel good-

Don't worry about their reply-they need to save face in front of peers. When someone is confronted on behaviors, like this kid was, it has an effect-generally. They act tough at the time but reflect a bit later. Unless the kid is just a sociopath, which is unlikely.

[digonswine]

3. Also-that feeling you had-

was a normal reaction to a perceived threat-adrenalin or epinephrine. It changes your mindset for a few minutes. If you are like me, it will occur more often after this event in similar circumstances.

[kimi]

4. Yeah, it's weird

I felt really odd, still do in a way. Now, I've been under the influence of a lotta stuff through the years, but this -- it's different.

It's like . . . I could take on anything. (Which I know, realistically, that I can't.) But it is good, it is -- right.

[digonswine]

6. It IS a good feeling-to know you have done something truly good-

Have you read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell--he talks about how people's minds work in this state?

[kimi]

8. No, I haven't

I will look into it though. This is such an alien thing for me, to feel this empowered. That kid was so much bigger than me (I'm barely 5 feet tall) and physically I shoulda been scared s&*tless. But -- I just didn't care, I was just appalled at what he and his buddies were doing. Even when he turned away and said what he did, and I called him back on it -- I wasn't scared! It's so weird, but it felt so damn good.

Lots of stuff in my life lately has sucked, but this tonight has surprisingly calmed me.

[digonswine]

9. Good-

I'm sorry stuff in your life has sucked lately. Experiences like yours really lift the spirits. They make it seem like we have a bit of control and power. I imagine assertive people, which I am generally not, get this feeling frequently. It is a nice reward. Think of it when you need a bit if a jolt.

[rug]

5. Call out punks.

You did good.

[rurallib]

7. Error: You can't recommend threads from this forum

sure wish I could though!

[nolabear]

10. You did good. I don't know how old these kids were

but kids twelve and younger are really dumb about that kind of thing, and not necessarily budding sociopaths. It makes me happy though that someone objected, they at least got some hint that what they were doing was not right and somewhere there's a baby bunny that is still hopping.

[kimi]

11. It was a group of 4 boys,

only one had a paint-gun but the others were pointing out the "targets" (baby bunnies). And laughing and sorta cheering the kid with the paint-gun on (he looked to be about 16 or so). When I walked out, the rabbits ran, and the shooting started, and that's when I yelled. At least, that's my recollection.

I don't know if paint-guns can actually hurt animals - my kids have had them but never would have thought of aiming at them at living creatures. A couple of my boys have hunted in the past, actually. And I'm not anti-gun, I own firearms, and I believe in hunting if it's for a specific purpose (meat, shelter, etc). Hunting has it's place in the world, but this wasn't hunting, it was a bunch of kids ganging up on small animals for (their version of) fun.

I guess what hit me most was my reaction. Not being scared, not concerned if I'd be attacked, but ready to fight if I were.

Normally, when confronted with someone with a projectile doo-hickey, I'd walk away or retreat. But I didn't this time, and I won't the next time. I'm not such a huge fan of rabbits, (although I have a geriatric bunny in my bedroom right now) necessarily, but I AM a huge fan of decency.

[brotherjonah]

13. Yeah, that kind of reminds me of summer of 72

In El Paso, can't remember which part of the summer (march through october) but it was hot. Damn hot.
My uncle and a couple of his Army buddies were going "hunting" which I didn't know was code for "getting drunk and making loud noises with guns for entertainment".
So they took me and two of my brothers with them, said some inane crap about they would eat everything thing they shot,which WOULD have been entertaining since the only things they shot were rocks, cans, a really fast jackrabbit who turned out to be a rock, because that's all they managed to shoot of him/her.
...and a field-rat they cornered in a mess of cactus and were shooting at a distance of about inches and still missing.
Real "mighty hunters" they were. Not exactly kids but me and my brothers, I was the oldest at 11.

We didn't "get to play with the guns" which, in long retrospect, is a really GOOD thing and I got this distinct impression that my uncle is a drunken fool. It's kind of like WARNING!! Bad joke! DANGER!! "The Deer Hunter", without the happy ending.

Or that South Park episode where Uncle Jimbo takes the kids "hunting".

I dunno. Maybe if it's made a really hideous experience the first time, but then, that's not guaranteed either.

Paintball, yeah. It can be lethal. You're supposed to wear protective clothing to do it, and if you go to an organized paintball range, you're REQUIRED because they've been sued so many times by people who just didn't realize that getting shot with any kind of a gun hurts.

The pellets are comparatively light, really low mass compared to volume, so they don't stay at full velocity for long.

But mass and velocity do count more than how hard the projectile is. Wind pushes ships that weigh hundreds of tons.

And there was a magazine article I read about making some VietNam sequences for a "Deer Hunter"-esque movie, being shot in the Philippines, the stunt director showed how exactly "harmless" blanks are by drinking a cup of coffee, throwing the cup down and shooting it full of holes using just blanks. A nice visual lesson.

And the rabbits were at really close range.

[seabeyond]

12. i am so happy for you. excellent story, thanks for sharing

good for you.

i got over shy forever ago. had to work at it. look at me now... lol. i will confront, cannot not confront, anytime, anywhere. and each time amazed i did it.

[yellerpup]

14. The cruelest are also the weakest.

You frightened him and he needed it. Glad you feel good about what you did. It's hard to feel bad about doing the right thing. I'm proud of you and really happy that you have overcome your past abuse. The rabbit thanks you too, I'm sure.

[Curmudgeoness]

15. Many of us have strong instincts to protect the helpless.

Those instincts will override our other instincts, even self-preservation at times. You did good. :)

I had one of these moments too, and I got right in the face of the biggest, seemingly the leader. I was scared to death, but it was gratifying. And the whole group ended up avoiding me from then on. :bounce:

[Rhiannon12866]

16. That's just about the only kind of situation that would cause me to do that, as well.

Makes me angry just to hear about it. Good for you! :fistbump: :yourock: