Writing Topic pg. 263

I normally don’t feel any sort of public pressure at all, but in this one instance, I found myself being pressured by complete strangers to step in and do something about a certain situation. About a year ago, I was heading to Hollywood to meet a few friends. When I arrived I decided to park in a parking garage. As I got out of my car and started to walk towards the elevator, I saw a group of women standing in front of me looking concerned and nervous. Ofcourse I’m going to ask them if they were alright. They responded by saying they heared a girl crying and scuffling noises around the corner a few seconds ago. I look towards that direction but I can’t see or hear anything, as it had less light in that direction and the noise from car tires squealing in the parking garage.

The first thought that came into my head was that they were either hearing things or they were lying. So I could have just brushed it off and continued on my way to meet up with my friends down the street. But the group of girls insisted that I go check it out and they were really starting to look concerned. I decided to go look because I felt pressured to help. I started to walk around the corner where they heard the crying. As I came closer to seeing around the corner I heard noises as if people were struggling. Right then I started thinking "what have I gotten myself into?” I decided to press forward and as I turned the corner, I seen a man and a women on the ground. They were engaging in sexual acts. I didn’t know what to think and I was trying to process if this was consensual or a crime, because this was happening in a dirty parking garage in the open behind a wall. The women seen me and asked me a provocative question and then I knew it was consensual. I turned away and started to walk back towards the elevators and the group of girls.

I told them what was going on and I could see they felt relieved. We ended up all going out afterwards and ended up having a great night. But this is a case where I was publicly pressured into doing something I would have normally not have done. This situation could have ended up way different if something else was going on. And I could have put myself in harm’s way because nobody was around to help me if I needed help. I usually don’t put myself in dire situations but this one instance, I felt pressured to do something right away. Overall I’m glad I checked the situation out because of the possibility of something bad was happening, but I’m lucky nothing serious was going on.