WWJ(W)D?

This morning I went out to my car and was shuffling a few things around as I was getting ready to leave for work. When I looked up, there was a police officer standing next to my car. I rolled down my window, and he asked if I knew the lady who lived in the apartment building next to me. I responded that I didn't, and he went on to explain that about an hour earlier she had been beaten unconscious and carjacked. Apparently she had resisted, and they (?) had beaten her profusely. He asked if I had heard anything, but I hadn't. He thanked me for my time, I thanked him, and then he walked away.

This is deeply disturbing. It got me wondering what the appropriate response would be in an incident like that. If I had walked outside an hour earlier and seen this event transpiring, what would I have done? As I was beginning to process this incident, my first reaction was a feeling of guilt. I wish I had heard something so that I could have called 911 and then walked outside with my Louisville Slugger. I know that's probably not the technically correct response, and that you should stay safe and let the police handle it. But in my gut I kept thinking, maybe it's about time some good men start taking some risks. If we never stand up, evil men will never back down. To repeat one of my favorite quotes, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I then wondered, what if I did walk outside with my baseball bat and one of them had a gun? If nothing else, this gave me a new appreciation for many of Jeff's posts on carrying arms.

This all brought back to mind an article Angela had sent to me shortly after 9/11. Incidentally, I watched my first John Wayne movie about two weeks ago. I was bored on a Saturday night, and I realized I had never actually seen a John Wayne movie so it seemed like a good idea. Maybe it was the novelty of it, but I actually liked it. Obviously, there is a suspension of certain realities and Wayne's character is idealized, but there was still something very appealing about it, about being the kind, generous, strong, respectful, man of integrity who shows up to save the day. It got me phrasing this morning's incident in the form of a different question: What Would John Wayne Do? Yes, I know he is not the model of behavior for us that Jesus is, but in this particular incident I have a feeling their reaction might have been fairly similar.

For now I guess there's not much I can do. And the way the news reported the episode was different from the perception I got from speaking with the officer so I'm rather confused by what transpired. I might drop off a little card to my neighbor expressing my concern. What else should I do?