Saturday, 30 August 2008

First Blog! Teenagers & Knife Crime......

My first blog so Im not quite sure what I should start with so I might just ramble on and see where it takes me!

I was interested to see what people thought of a situation I was in last night on my way back from Clapham Junction after meeting with friends.

I was on the bus about 1am when two girls who were about 15-16 years old got on the bus and were immediately intimidating to everyone on the bus. They swore, shouted insults at the other passengers, and finally threw things at everyone on the bus. What was really interesting, was that not one person, including me, reacted to them in anyway or stood up to them; everyone carried on as if they werent there. Then I realised it was because everyone was thinking the same thing - were these girls lairy teenagers or were these girls more threatening, perhaps carrying a knife or a gun?

In London at the moment, as unfortunately is the case with most places, this is a real and serious quesion, so therefore if the other passengers were anything like me, they wouldnt want to approach these girls and tell them to "pack it in" (ill be polite..) incase of inciting some very nasty violence.

The situation got worse when only three of us women were left on the bus with the girls. As we pulled up at on stop, one of the other women got off the bus - perhaps because she was frightened, they had made several comments to her about how she was dressed. I was considering it myself when the back doors of the bus opened and this young man rushed on and literally GRABBED one of the young girls by the hair - I literally thought he might kill her!!

It appears the the final woman on the bus was his girlfriend and I can only assume that she had texted him to say that there were two very intimidating girls on the bus with her.

Now this is going to sound awful. maybe. Maybe you might agree - but I was torn, I felt disgust that this grown man was violent towards this young girl. BUT. I felt a slight sense that justice had been done, as once we had pulled away, the girl in question burst in to tears. Im thinking perhaps her attitude towards others might have changed for the future.

I wondered if I was the only person to feel justice had been done or whether Im a horrible person for feeling pleased that someone stood up to a young bully - even if it was violently. I told my housemate who was horrified that a man had grabbed a woman in that way even if she WAS a bully - shes a young girl afterall. My boyfriend on the other hand said he would have done the same thing if these girls were insulting and throwing things at me and if it taught her a lesson its a good thing.

I'm not sure if such violent measures are appropriate, but Im sure as hell glad that womans boyfriend jumped on the bus in that way. I was the only person left on there after that with the two teenagers, and probably the last person on the bus they hadnt had a pop at.....


Click Here!