A Night when Love and Hate Collide

Peter was talking to a friend and walking…walking is something which had become an integral part of his day. Today he had walked a little less compared to the last 3 days and he wasn’t too hungry so he thought he would walk to MacDonald’s  and have a roll at least as he wanted to walk some more. He was walking down the usual road, usual as in the one he had walked on for the last 3 days. It was huge with all the coffee shops and other brand outlets and more predominantly 1 shop in every 3 seemed to have an Arabic name, owned by Arabic, Iranian or Middle Eastern people in general. There were so many people sitting outside these restaurants named ‘Lebanon,' ‘Beirut.” Nearly all of them had halal written on it. He was amazed at the number of people sitting outside these restaurants and having Hookah and speaking in Arabic. When they spoke in English he realized that they were discussing America and other topics. Peter has always been aware of his surroundings and absorbing things as much as he could. And now that he was in London for the first time his senses were extra sensitive. Seeing all that made him think about how people turn any place into their own, sell their own type of food, display their own colors around their shops and homes, speak their language with their own and fit in everywhere. It was natural and felt good that humans could adapt so well! He said, 'hello' and entered the fast food outlet.

Waiting in the queue, the attendant gave him a smile of recognition as he had been going there for the last 3 days. The place wasn't great, but it was good enough for a fast food joint.  There were 3 kids having fun, abusing each other, near the counter. One was trying to get into the washroom and he thought someone was inside, but when he opened it the other guy ran inside teasing him. They were playing around. Peter ordered a roll and waited. The ‘kids’ were abusive. One of them came out and said something to a girl, she asked him what he said and he was like you are a 'fucking idiot,' as if he was talking to his friend. That girl was shocked and looked around and the guy repeated it with more disrespect. A guy intervened and asked the kid to be respectful and stop the nonsense. This was when the kid tried to punch the guy and so another guy came in and it turned into a push-pull fight.

The other bystanders who knew nothing of what was happening intervened on the kid’s behalf and tried to defend them by saying they were just kids. Seeing this, the kid shed crocodile tears, and it made the others there especially the girls come and shout at the guys who were in a fight with the kids. They were saying, 'let it go they are just kids.' The bigger guys were saying, 'that’s why they got to learn some respect. They can’t disrespect a girl.' Another guy came and said, 'at least not my girlfriend, I will not take it.' One of the guys skipped the place and called up the police. Soon the shouting increased and more and more people began getting involved. Peter was watching all this and moved a step back as he had been warned thousands of times not to get involved in anything like this. Keeping this in mind, he had to force himself from telling the girls and the people who were backing up the kids how badly they were behaving.

In all this the staff had forgotten Peter’s roll, he signaled to the staff and the waiter was like, ohh yeah, the roll. Peter took the roll and headed out, as he exited the police were already there and one of the two guys had already sensed that the police were coming and had run away. The fight was now taken out of the fast food outlet. The people outside realized that the kids were Arabs from the same area and the others were British; so all the Arab’s were interested in what had happened and again started feeling bad about what the kid had told them. The main person, a young, smart, business like guy in the suit whose girlfriend had been abused did not budge. Peter looked at him and imagined what was going on through his mind. Normally people would feel it is anger, but Peter sensed it to be love. All that was going on in the mind of the guy in the suit was love, his love for his girlfriend. The promises he had made to her, to be with her and protect her against all the harm that comes her way. It was the way she looked at him when the kids abused her. It ticked him off, he wondered how this could happen to her when he was around and how could he stand there and not do anything. Peter admired the guy who knew how to stand up for his Rights, for Justice and for Love.  

The 2-3 girls who had nothing to do with any of it were shouting on the road. When more people gathered and the police got there, they just walked off smiling, as if they had done a great job. Peter felt like giving them a hearing, but it wasn't worth it. The area being dominantly Arab, people were already shouting, the police called for backup and in few minutes another car filled with cops along with a cop van arrived along with the kids’ father and someone else with him. Soon it became visible how much power projection they could show. It was less about the fight, but in a way more about the power or numbers. In all this, Peter admired one thing; that the guy in the suit neither ran off nor was he visibly afraid of anything, though it was intimidating. He was cool and was saying the same thing that he had said earlier. It wasn’t acceptable; it did not matter if they were kids. It does not give them the right to do it and that nothing could justify what they had done.

Peter was finishing his roll watching all this. Another 30-32yr old Arab guy asked what was happening. Peter told him in brief what had happened. And he said that it was nice to see someone standing up to these kids. Peter did not get it; he asked him what he meant. The guy said he travels through this area every day and knows who these kids are. He said that they are rich spoilt brats whose family own shops, restaurants and cafes around the area. And after 11 pm these and others guys in the area stand at the corners of dark streets with knives and mug people. The police know about it but can’t do much as they are in majority here and are well connected. Of course politics and minority comes into play in this particular scenario. Peter was on the move to the hostel, as it was already late and he had to get out of this as he was getting tempted to go and take guy’s side and tell him how he admired that he had stood up to them. He was also tempted to tell the police how right the guy in the suit was. Peter was that sort of guy who admired the right thing, standing up for someone. He was a man who wouldn’t care where he was and how many people were against him and how the odds were against him when it came to his love or justice.  

As Peter left, the guy in the suit was taken inside McDonalds and sat with the police, while the number of Arabs outside increased.This Incident made Peter think of how the minority can use their presence in a majority while being in a specific area and pretend to be the victim in order to get things done for them. It’s sad that these things cut down the seriousness of true incidents of harassment and make you doubt some genuine cases of injustice. Unfortunately, that’s the way the world operates, he thought… As he left, he was not worried about what was going to happen to the guy in the suit or whether the police were going to charge him or not or if the Arabs were going to make a bigger scene and do something or just let it go. The only thing which was going on in his mind was the admiration for the guy in the suit for standing up for right and also for his Love.  Peter knew the importance of Love and being loved and was happy that it still mattered in the world.  It is said that everything we do in life is in a way to get more love….