When you have a teenage girl trembling and hiding in your closet while their mother, father and sister are all standing at the door yelling out her name each time the tone in their voices becoming more and more aggressive, what do you do? It then gets to the point where they all basically step into your house uninvited yelling at the top of their lungs and threatening to call the police when in fact the only ones breaking any type of law would be them, what do you do? You know for sure that once they get their hands on her she will get a beating, what do you do? As I was growing up I always imagined what I would do, the steps I would take if I ever was in a similar situation I even rehearsed lines to say but I totally froze. I mean yes I have had my fair share of beatings up to a certain age where my parents saw the light and stopped laying their hands on me which was a very long time ago. Still frozen I thought to myself I’m not this child’s mother or legal guardian I really do not have the right. This thought was quickly interrupted by this young girl giving herself up to her parents only to have her father viciously pull her by the hair about 10 metres out to the car in front of the whole neighbourhood whom were already out on the road wanting to know what all the commotion was which is very common especially amongst an area over populated by many Samoans the faikala ones mainly. [ad#alamaipostsquare]The big red Honda family van zoomed off. I knew once they got home she will get a beating not only from her mother but from her father, sister her two other brothers and cousin all at once that’s just how it is in her family they probably think the more the merrier? Although I picked up the phone and notified the police for some reason I had this guilty feeling I knew I was doing the right thing but still I had a sick feeling in my gut but I wanted to break the cycle of staying silent and turning the blind eye like many do. Discipline is a thing that should be carried out but not to the extent where it becomes a family gang bash well at least that’s what I think?
