Kelly Pegg: Would you help stop someone being attacked?

We only have to turn on the TV to see all the bad things that are going on in the world.

As horrible as it is watching a news report about something terrible or reading about it online, there’s a distance that’s instantly put between the story and us.

How different does it become if you witness something terrible right in front of your eyes?

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My husband Chris came home from work one night this week really shaken up. He had watched a road rage incident unfold and it became pretty nasty.

Chris was stuck in non-moving traffic along with lots of other vehicles as he watched a guy drag another man out of his car and attack him before smashing his windscreen.

As Chris was telling me the story I could see he couldn’t quite believe what he’d seen. My first question was: “Did you do anything to help?” he told me “no.” “Ok, did you call the police?” Again he told me “no”.

Apparently not one person in the line of traffic got out of their car to help the man who was being attacked. I won’t lie I was horrified. “How could you and all these people just ignore it Chris?” I asked him, disappointed.

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His reaction was one I think most people have when caught up in a situation like this “someone will have called the police.” Again I was horrified. “Ok, so what if no one called the police Chris?” I asked.

I think he knew I was frustrated by his decision so he said, “What would you have done then?”

I told him, I would have got out of my car and shouted at the man to stop whilst calling the police immediately and letting the attacker know the police were on the way. There is no way I would have just sat there and watched. What if this man was attacking a woman, would it have made a difference?

I think it may have, although it shouldn’t matter if it was a man, woman or child being attacked, people should have got out of their car and tried to stop it.

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I’ve always been the type of person to intervene and try and help. Over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that I can’t fight everyone’s battles – I’ve learnt that the hard way. However I’m not built to stand aside if a person is in pain or trouble and needed my help.

Of course it’s much easier to say something than actually do it and faced with a dangerous situation who knows what you would do. I guess fight or flight kicks in and you take it from there. If my husband had intervened in the road rage incident he saw it could have backfired, he could have been hurt.

However if it were MY husband who was the victim then I absolutely 100 per cent would want someone to have stopped to help him. I think it’s sad that we live in such a world where we close our eyes to bad situations and refuse to help or make a difference. It’s far too easy for the majority of us to shut ourselves away from anything bad and just carry on with our lives like everything is fine.

We seem to have adopted this attitude in society of ‘if it doesn’t affect me then I don’t care’.

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My husband always laughs at me when we talk about what we would do if someone tried to mug us in the street. He says: “You’d fight them whilst I would run away” and that’s about right!I’m lucky enough to have never been mugged but I like to think that if someone did try to take my bag from me I would put up a good fight and hold on to it tight.

I don’t see why people who mug or attack others should get away with it. They thrive on the fear they install in a victim and that’s where we have to be brave and stand up to people like this. Of course interfering and trying to help in what could be a volatile situation means that you are putting yourself at risk too. For me that is a risk worth taking, I could never stand by and watch anyone get hurt and do nothing. Being brave and doing what’s right isn’t always the easy option but it’s the most rewarding one.

Harassment isn’t entertaining

So Pop Star Louis Tomlinson has landed him self in hot water after allegedly lashing out at a photographer and fans at an LA Airport.

I will never condone violence but I do feel for him. The paparazzo in question – Karl Larsen - has admitted in the past purposely-berating celebrities to get a reaction from them. He’s also said admitted to enjoying watching ‘celebrities dig their own hole’.

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I don’t know how anyone could call it a job, behaving in this way. Yes, Louis Tomlinson is famous but he has a right to privacy and he should be able to pick up his luggage at the airport without photographers in his face and fans filming him without permission. He wasn’t working and therefore in my opinion should be left alone. The media is a disgrace for hiring photographers like this Larsen to harass celebrities. There needs to be better laws in place to protect everyone. Just because a person is famous doesn’t mean they deserved to be stalked or harassed because it makes a great photograph or a great story. It’s not entertainment, it’s bullying.

First dates can be extremely tough

So our Leeds batchelor and single mum Emma did not find love together in Paris, sadly.

After spending the weekend together in what is known as the most romantic city in the world, the pair felt like they didn’t have the right chemistry or anything in common.

Myself, Ant and Michael had high hopes for them as when they finally saw each other in the studios at Radio Aire, it seemed like initially they were attracted to each other. First dates can be extremely tough though and we’ve all been there where you’re looking for love but it just doesn’t happen. I think it was incredibly brave of Aram and Emma to go on the radio in a bid to find ‘the one’. It’s not easy putting yourself ‘out there’ and being so open about it. I’m quite old fashioned and I don’t think the dating scene is anything like it was 10 years ago when I was 25. For a start all of this dating online malarkey is a minefield and it seems it’s less about someone’s personality and more about how they look and what they have in term of possessions, that makes me sad. There’s nothing wrong at all with being single, having the freedom to do what you want when you want and having the time to learn about yourself, is a positive thing. When a person is looking for love though it can be disheartening if they encounter a series of disappointments. Here’s wishing Aram and Emma all the best in their search for love.