More sheep

I heard about the man who stomped his two year old to death (kicking him more than 100 times) before being killed by the police.  What I hadn’t realized is that a flock of sheep witnessed the horror:

The town of Turlock and much of the rest of the nation was shocked when a 27-year-old man beat and stomped his 2-year-old son to death on a rural road. But what was nearly as stunning for many people was that none of the motorists and their passengers who stopped and saw the attack tried to tackle the man.

Police officers and psychologists familiar with violent emergencies, however, said they weren’t surprised at all.

A volunteer firefighter and at least five others saw Sergio Casian Aguiar assaulting his son Saturday night on the road west of Turlock (Stanislaus County), but it wasn’t until a police officer arrived in a helicopter that the attack finally ended. Aguiar refused to halt the attack and raised his middle finger at the officer, who shot him to death, authorities said.

Bystanders are justifiably scared and confused in such situations, the experts said Wednesday, and they lack the experience needed to respond with force. They can also be mesmerized by shock.

The rest of the article is about how people shouldn’t feel guilty about watching a two year old be stomped to death.  The article also notes that people like me, people who weren’t there, believe that, had they been there, they would have done something different.

I don’t know about me, but I do know that there are people who, in fact, do show up and do something different.  These are the people who save people from subway trains or run into burning buildings or do any of the other heroic acts that routinely appear in our nation’s papers.

I don’t know if I’m a sheep or a lion.  I’ve never been tested.  But I sure find these sheep stories upsetting.