This is a confession of my murderous thoughts. They were my first response.
I was at an amusement park this weekend and a woman was abusing her son in the bathroom stall next to me.
My little girl was with me, and she said, “Mommy! That lady is HURTING her little boy! We HAVE to DO SOMETHING!” My daughter was visibly upset – I could see the fear for the little boy in her sweet face. I told her that I would – that I needed her to be quiet for a second so I could figure out what was going on.
As I listened, I could hear her repeatedly hitting the little boy (about 5 or 6) in the head and chest while he just quietly whimpered and begged for her to stop. She kept pushing him to the corner of the stall. I could see his little freckled face through the crack. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut. He had nowhere to go. She cussed him out – along with horrible, descriptive language about how she was going to hurt him more if he didn’t stop crying – and that his father would beat the you know what out of him when he got home, too.
His crime? Being afraid of the upcoming fireworks display that SHE wanted to watch.
She said that after they got out of the bathroom, she was going to lock him in the car. It was 95 degrees outside. She said she didn’t care what happened to him.
When she got out of the stall she yanked him by the arm to the sink, and then touched up her already heavy eyeliner as if nothing happened. It amazed me, that in a very crowded restroom that there was not one person in there not staring at their shoes.
I pictured crouching on my left foot while my right foot made square contact with her mouth, knocking out every tooth in it for speaking to her son in that way. Her neck might even break. I pictured her head bouncing off the metal stall behind her and her body hitting the beige tile floor in a pool of her own blood.
I wanted to hug this poor little boy and take him home to live with me, where he would be safe.
Then, I remembered a passage from Deuteronomy 32:
v. 35-36
Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,
In due time their foot will slip;
For the day of their calamity is near,
And the impending things are hastening upon them.’
For the LORD will vindicate His people,
And will have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their strength is gone,
And there is none remaining, bond or free.
INSTEAD…..
As soon as she stepped out, I grabbed my little girl’s hand, got a VERY accurate description and called security.
The mom had sandy-blond and was wearing an orange shirt and white shorts. The little boy was wearing a powder-blue shirt, maroon shorts and had black sandals with red designs on them.
The guard was an older gentleman and started to say that he was reluctant to get involved – “maybe she had low blood sugar was was just yelling a lot” he said. “It’s been a hot day, and people here are getting irritated.”
I prayed, “No! No! Please, God, don’t let this security guard ignore me!!”
And then another lady came over and begged for security to get involved – and validated the story. Her husband came with her and said, “My wife immediately told me about what happened in the bathroom. She was very shook up by what was going on in there. You must do something about this little boy. He could be hurt.”
The lady chimed in, “I heard her say she was going to lock her son in the car – can you at least make sure that this doesn’t happen?”
YES! Thank you, God…
The security team did NOT have a female officer to send in. So, they waited till she came outside – but she never did. She actually went out a back entrance, opposite of where she was inside the building.
Given the description, they started to look for her.
Then, they spotted her – and quickly called for me and this other woman to come identify the abusive mom. She was standing off to the side by a vendor’s stand, holding onto the little boy’s wrist and still yelling at him! He was cowering and crying.
This poor little boy. Not once through the whole ordeal did he fight back. It was never the case of a parent trying to properly discipline her child but getting resistance. Her whole point was to hurt and humiliate him. In this case, just for being afraid of fireworks.
Last I saw, security was surrounding this woman.
Another security guard came over and took a statement from me and from the other woman.
Then ANOTHER woman came over to security and said, “THANK YOU for taking care of this situation – that woman was beating her little boy in there, in front of everyone.”
PHEW.
I walked back to my family (Tom knew something was up and kept the kids with him) and Tom went up to me and surrounded me with his strong arms and held me close. I was shaking. I tried not to cry. I have never in my life seen a person harm a child like that before.
I wish I know what happened after that.
It’s HARD not knowing, and wondering if the little boy is okay.
It bugs me that my first thoughts were to kill this mom.
I am thankful that the Deuteronomy verse came to mind, or else I just might have.