There was a terrorist today at In-N-Out Burger. No he didn’t have bombs strapped to his chest and threaten to kill everyone in 10 blocks if his hamburger wasn’t delivered to
As I was waiting in line to order my food, a man came marching up to the front counter, cell-phone pressed to his ear and demanded to see a manager. “I need to see a manager NOW!” he yelled as the entire restaurant looked to see what was going on. “I want 911 called! This SOB just threatened me!” The girl taking my order just stared at him, dumbfounded and terrified. “This can’t wait! I was peacefully eating my meal and this SOB threatened me and harassed me to get out of my seat! I want 911 called!” And then to the man in question: “You’re going to JAIL you SOB!”
By this time the restaurant was in silent shock. This all took place right next to me. I was calmly trying to ignore the lunatic and order my meal. The girl taking the order was shaking as s
he tried unsuccessfully to press the right buttons. The ranting man continued to scream at the top of his lungs, use explicatives, and point fingers at the accused man who, by the way, never said a word or tried to defend himself. As a matter of fact, the accused man just stared at him the entire time with a look on his face that said “You’re loony!”
Finally, as I was filling my cup with soda, the onlookers started yelling back at the lunatic. “Take it outside!” “We don’t want to hear it!” “Leave the guy alone!” “Get out of here!” And so on.
As I started looking for a table to sit at, about six random men from different tables stood and approached the raving madman. They had decided to control the situation since no one else was doing it. They surrounded him and forced him outside. The raving man was suddenly scared when approached by these men. Suddenly he wasn’t the aggressor that he had made himself out to be. As all terrorists are, this man was truly a coward. As the mob took the man outside, the restaurant cheered.
In the end, the man accused had merely asked if the other man was finished eating and if he could take his table. The reports of the onlookers said that he was very polite and was never threatening.
Honestly, it was quite an amazing sight… but perhaps not for the reasons you’re thinking of. I thought it was amazing that when the time called for action, six random people stepped up to bat. These men were not in a group together. Some were there with their wives and children, some were there alone. But when they felt threatened, they answered the call to duty. These men were of the same caliber that saved and unknown number of lives by bringing down flight 93 on
Sadly, I was not among them. Upon reflection I realized that I stood there while other men took out the terrorist. Had I been on flight 93, would I have sat there in my seat while a group of men brought the plane down? I should have been among those six. They should have been seven.
What would you have done? What would you like to think you would have done? Are you a homeland protector a la flight 93? Or are you one who would look the other way and fill your soda cup?
2 comments:
Wow, I would hope that I could and would be person number 1 standing up to put this "terrorist" to silence. I believe we all have it in us to protect what we love. It is not a matter of being a coward if you dont get up to discourage a raging lunatic. It is a matter of priority. I believe we all have priorities, which happen to be family first for myself, but I would hope that I could manipulate my priorities when the time called. Thanks for the experience... -Rich
That is an intense meal man. I remember I was on a flight a few weeks after Sept. 11 and some drunk truck driver sat next to me. I was on a boy scout trip so I was in uniform and this guy just couldn't stop talking to me and saying some of the most outrageous comments I have ever heard. You could hear a pin drop except for him because everyone was so nervous this man was going to do something weird. I remember a lady thanked me when we got off the flight for how I handled it but all I remember doing is trying to be nice to him and thinking how bad his breath smelled. By the way, this is Westin commenting but my blog name is Stoli. Hope you are well Jay.
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