I saw my neighbour in town today.
She’d just started back at work
after three months. She’s a cleaner
at Sunnyside Shopping Centre.
She was injured, and they made her
get counselling too, for PTSD. Why?
She saw these two in the car park
bashing an old lady and spitting on her.
‘They came back to go her again,’
she told me. ‘But I put my body
in front of hers. That’s not on, I thought.
That’s someone’s mother or gran.
‘I was wrestling the man. But they
picked me up, and threw me
against the wall. All these other people
were standing around, just watching.
‘No-one would help. I lost a whole
three months’ work out of it. But now
I’m back earning my money.’ She smiled.
‘You just do what you think is right.’
Which is the worse villainy – a raging
attack on the helpless or watching,
doing nothing? I know one thing:
‘Wow!’ I said. ‘Good on you. You’re a hero.’
More details:
I left a copy of this poem in my neighbour’s letter-box. Next morning I got a note from her, correcting ‘picked me up and threw me’ to ‘pushed me ’, and adding the following:
‘I tried to wrestle the man. He went over the top of me and he got the lady again, then he and the female spat in my face twice. I did move them on though, then I stayed with the lady until she was in a taxi.
The man shoved me against the wall. Police and security came after.
Today I sat with an 80-year-old man who slept in his car at the shopping centre and “wanted Jodie”. Two ambos* came. Sad day. I laid him down on sushi lounge as he couldn't breathe. Broke my heart. I monitored him from 5am and sat with him from 8am to 9.30 until he was in the ambulance.
I just care about people that need help. Not a hero, but thank you.’
*In Australia, ambo is slang for an ambulance worker.
Poetic Asides April 2021 prompt day 7: A villain poem.
Sharing this, a few years later, with Poets and Storytellers United, for Friday Writings #138: Loving One's Neighbour, as it depicts both the loving and the unloving, and also mentions a neighbour whose goodness I love.
How awful for the poor woman and how brave! Sometimes, you just have to stand up and be counted--
ReplyDeleteThis is terrifying, Rosemary. So well told.
ReplyDeleteYou pose an existential question which is worthy of much thought - which is worse .. "villainy - or watching and doing nothing?" A poem that is a gut punch - well told and horrifyingly all too true in this upside time in which we are living.
ReplyDeleteSo much to think about: first, that woman is a total hero! More power to her. And second, that question is a massive one, so relevant in a world today where we are letting the massacre of children happen while we watch. There will always be bad apples, even very bad ones, but silence is a terrible privilege... :(
ReplyDeleteI did see some resemblances in theme between this and the poem you shared this week. It's a bit different, though, between events in such a personal scale as the one I describe, and those which involve whole countries and thousands of people. In the one case, speaking up and taking action may require courage; in the second, particularly when we live far away from what is happening, one wonders what words or actions could possibly be powerful enough to have an effect. (Which doesn't of course deny the importance of speaking up anyway, doing whatever little we can.)
DeleteWhat a lovely gesture to leave this for your neighbour. I am glad there are good people in the world who are acknowledged - jae
ReplyDeleteI think there are many – though unfortunately not in positions of power. But I do also think that to do what my neighbour did required unusual courage.
DeleteBrilliantly told, and so graphic. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteHeroism comes in all shapes. My heart goes out to the lady.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed.
DeleteThis is stark and hard to read - what a brutal reality. Sad, but so worth sharing.
ReplyDeleteSomething I couldn't not write.
DeleteShe will never recover from the affront or the fact that she was willing to slay a dragon and was brave. Your prose shows we live in a world of heroes, villains, do-nothings and everything in between. And oddly enough we change roles from time to time.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, so we do.
DeleteYes, she is a hero. But as always heroes suffer to make this world a better place.
ReplyDeleteSad but true.
DeleteGod bless that woman. I really do hope that real goodness and not those just being an essay in goodness is rewarded. There are kind and wonderful people out there but in reality there are not many, rarely in position of power and never appreciated
ReplyDeleteOops it's Rall
ReplyDeleteI think the truly good, such as this neighbour of mine, have no thought of reward. I also think that in a way they are rewarded, just by the knowledge that they've helped someone.
DeleteThey should be paying that cleaner whatever they pay their guards! Good to know that some people like her are still alive.
ReplyDeletePK
Yes, they really should – but I very much doubt that they are.
DeleteThe Bystander Defect...😢
ReplyDeleteI guess so.
DeleteThat is one brave, true hero!
ReplyDeleteYes, I couldn't agree more.
Delete