I had this vision. I was on the ground, bruised an broken, in the middle of some poorly lit parking lot in east London. The kind of place we normal people never visit. Kate was still in the cab, screaming at the driver to turn back as he sped away. And as I lay there one thought ran through my mind... "at least Katie's alright".
Now allow me to lay the background for this story. Tonight was the big St. Patrick's Day party, but oddly enough I wasn't in the mood for an incoherently drunken night. Maybe it was because of the mess I had made of myself Tuesday, or maybe it was due to the fact that I ate the equivalent of two slices of pizza all day. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to get really drunk.
I had my eye on my friend Katie Mac all night long, but I never got overly concerned until the end of the night. She had far too much to drink, and started hanging off some guy that noone else knew. Apparently she knew this guy from back home, but nobody else had any clue who he was, or what he was like.
Fortunately my friend Kate stayed relatively sober tonight, and when she said she had grown tired of the bar, I suggested we take off (with Katie in tow). After a struggle we managed to get Katie's coat from the coat-check and get her moving outside. Like a normal drunk, she turned her body into a limp pile of flesh for us to carry out the door. Once outside we piled into a cab, Kate, Katie, and I, along with this guy Katie knows and a friend of his.
As the cab started off towards the boys' place (in hindsight we should've told the cabbie to take us home first, but then again we had no idea where these guys lived) Kate and I started to get a little nervous. We drove far past our usual limits and eventually found oursleves stopped between two appartment buildings on the outer limits of town. My little vision came over me on this trip out to the guys' place.
I imagined the guys taking Katie out of the cab and back into their place. Needless to say, I wasn't gonna let that happen. No matter how you slice it, consent was nowhere to be found. And with a girl that drunk, I could only imagine what would've happened. Fortunately Kate didn't give the guys a chance, as she slammed the door immediately once they had gotten out. And after a long and pricy cab ride home, we made sure Katie was safe in bed.
Oddly enough, I wouldn't have been so upset if my vision had come true. Surely I don't desire to have the shit beaten out of me, but maybe if it had happened, a few people would've learned a few things about me. Actions have always spoken louder than words, but then again, how often do we get to put our truths into action?
I'm still half drunk. Goodnight all.
4 comments:
Wow, I am so glad to have a friend like Travis, so that he can pretend to save me in case any of my guy friends from home ever come near me at a bar in London! Travis, I realize that you didn't know these guys and it's great that you want to look out for your female friends. However, your post was so drenched in self-righteousness I wanted to hurl. The only real action that was taken to "save Katie" that night appears to have been Kate's shutting the cab door! And I've never heard Kate talk about how she saved Katie from rapists. It was nice of you to take Katie home, but that hardly qualifies you to be the hero that you describe yourself as. Friends take drunk friends home all the time. Speaking as one of your female friends, it doesn't make you a hero to look out for us. It makes you a decent guy, yes, but that's hardly something worth bragging about in a sensationalized blog entry.
Hey D, you're the first person to post a comment on my blog!
And though I do appreciate your input, once I took a minute to re-read this post I realized a couple things.
First off, I didn't actually claim to be a hero at all, the only thing I said I did was to keep an eye on her, and make sure she got home alright. I didn't stop her from having fun at the bar or interfere with anything (however, she did say later that she actually hated that guy).
Anyway, this was all a "vision" so to speak, and it seems like you got the wrong impression about what I was trying to say.
This post was all about potential occurrances and hypotheticals. So I don't think it's really bragging since nothing actually happened.
Plus the last line of the post is an important one. I'm gonna do my best to only post sober on this blog.
So I'm reading through some blogs about St. Patrick's Day, seeing the recounts of the hilarity that people went through that day. I assumed this would be like any of the rest, so I decided to have a read. Instead I found a story that talked about the concern of one friend for another. I thought to myself 'good for him, people are lucky to have someone be that concerned about them'.
And then I came to the comment section. To my shock, one of this person's 'friends' somehow had the gall to vilify them for even thinking such a thing. This 'friend' set about berating the person for 'bragging' and being "self-righteous". Protecting - or in this case being prepared to protect - one's friends from potential harm is not what a vast majority of people would consider self-righteous. In fact, any true friend would be appreciative of the thought. So for someone to lambast another person for being genuinely concerned about the well being of another is, to me, ridiculous.
And to claim this person called themselves a hero? I did not once read anything about him claiming to be a hero. Where this came from I cannot figure out. No, it doesn't make a guy a hero to look out for his female friends. And yes, it does at best make them a "decent guy". But where was the bragging this 'friend' claims went on? The hypothetical context of the post is evident, perhaps this slipped by this person. Stating that you're willing to do anything to keep a vulnerable friend safe is not bragging in the least.
Perhaps this 'friend' should think a little harder about this. You should be grateful for having someone like that in your life, not everyone is fortunate enough to claim the same. If you don't like having people be concerned for you, then keep it to yourself, and enjoy the possibility of becoming yet another statistic when there's no one there to help you out.
PS - love the Matt Good reference on this page
First of all, I will address Travis’ response. Travis, I realize that you didn’t outright claim to be a hero – in those words. And I also caught the fact that the story dealt with a hypothetical situation. Clearly you didn’t get beat up in a parking lot while saving your friend. And, as it turns out, the guys were probably harmless, making the risk of Katie being raped also hypothetical. But I feel like you took your hypothetical role as the hero and then applied it to the events that actually took place. My main criticism is that you appear to crave recognition for your integrity. The entire tone of the story, whether hypothetical or not, was still self-righteous. I believe that one of your final comments speaks volumes. You say that it wouldn’t have been so bad if you had gotten beaten up saving your friend because then people would have “learned a few things” about you. What do you want people to learn? It appears that deep down, the story was about letting everyone know that, even if you didn’t quite play the hero that night, you would have, given the opportunity.
One other thing that irked me about this post was the light in which you portray Katie. You portray Katie as a drunken, helpless fool. Maybe she was a bit out of control that night (as we all get sometimes) but she might not want everyone to read about her in those terms. It’s cool that you want to write about your friends, but you should consider how they will feel when they read the posts.
Now, onto “my out of style is coming back”’s post. I don’t know who you are, but I am positive that you don’t know Travis. If you did, you would understand that Travis is someone who values honesty and free expression. My comment was in no way a personal attack on him, but merely a criticism of this particular story. Therefore, I resent having my status as Travis’s friend questioned. If anything, my post shows that I care enough about Travis to read his blog and offer an opinion. Calling Travis’ tone self-righteous is in no way “vilifying him”. And of course I appreciate having people who are concerned for me in my life. Looking out for your friends is obviously an honourable thing to do. I just feel that willingness to protect one’s friends should be a given – something that does not need to be shouted for the world to hear.
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