Stunning News

A thirty year old man got into an altercation with a sixty-two year old man on a BART train last week. It seems that the younger man didn't want to give up one of the two seats that he was taking up for the older to have a place to sit down. This escalated to the point where the old guy was in a head lock, and BART police were called. Before they reached the next stop, however, a woman stepped in and used her stun gun on the young guy. When authorities arrived on the platform, they found a much more subdued scene. They took the young guy off in handcuffs on suspicion of battery. The stun gun wielder skittered off.
The Bay Area media has been playing this one as a feel-good, real-life hero kind of story. I confess that at first I felt a wave of appreciation for the stunner, and a sneer for the youngster who refused to give up his seat. I thought about how using a stun gun can make so many uncomfortable situations could be made more comfortable by using a stun gun. The clown that jumps into the express lane with more than twelve items? Zap. Movie theater talkers? Zap. Cell phone chatters at the deli counter? Zap.
Then I thought about yard duty. I thought about all the times I have given the lecture to two kids who got into some sort of tussle on the playground. Often times there is an age difference, but never more than thirty years. Still, I make a point of telling both individuals that it takes two to make a problem, and there are always alternatives to pushing and shoving. Usually I give the benefit of doubt to the younger kid, since they may not be as schooled in the ways of personal interactions. Fighting over a seat on a BART train? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't run into that one with first graders. If I did, I sure wouldn't end it by jolting them with "perfectly legal" eight million volts.
And let's not forget that altercations on BART trains don't always end so "happily." For the time being, I'll be standing on BART.