Do the right thing?

I know Norwich well having lived there for three years and I can honestly say, despite some pretty late and rowdy nights, I don't think I ever saw a single fight.

For the most part, it's one of those places where you can feel perfectly safe walking about at three in the morning. It has a friendly, small town feel for a city.

This isn't meant to be an ad for the Norwich tourist board, more to illustrate the point these awful situations can occur unexpectedly and just about anywhere.

You can be going about your business, but the next minute you're forced to make a decision in a split-second and suffer the consequences.

Mr McGarahan paid the ultimate price.

And it is difficult. If you don't step in and help a victim of a crime, most people would feel a coward. But, on the flip side of that coin, most people have too much to lose if things go wrong.

I can think of three circumstances where I have faced a similar dilemma. Once I did nothing and felt guilty about it for a really long time. The second time the intervention of myself and others was enough to diffuse the situation and see the trouble maker walk away. The last time, and this was a while ago, I received a hefty whack for getting involved.

I don't say this to paint a heroic picture of myself. My actions in all three cases probably ranged from the patheticly negligent to extremely stupid, depending on your point of view.

But in such situations the right and wrong thing to do isn't always obvious. Or, at the very least, the right thing isn't always easy.

Like everything I guess, it's shades of grey. Some people might say Mr McGarahan did the right thing by stepping in. But then, if he hadn't got involved, one might suggest he could have gone home to his family that night.

That's not a criticism, just an observation. I wouldn't pass judgement on the choice people make in such a situation either way.

I guess I see it like this. If it were me taking a beating at the hands of a group of thugs, I would want people to help. So I guess there should be some reciprocity there if I was to see it happening to someone else.

That's probably what Frank McGarahan thought. Assuming he did think and just wasn't acting on incredibly brave instinct.

But I can't agree with anyone who says such a death is a waste. No selfless action ever is.