[prithsr]

There's one instance, albeit a different (yet similar(?)) scenario to OP's anecdote, that stays with me. About 6-7 years ago I was back home visiting my family and went out one night with a couple of friends to a local bar/club. There, we met up with several mutual friends, most of them I've only met a handful of times growing up. Towards the end of the night, a good friend of my good friend (so a mutual, male) kept approaching this other mutual (female). Back home, it's fairly common/normalised to approach random people and flirt with them. She was uncomfortable, and normally if a woman tells a man 'no' a couple times, he moves on to the next person (back home, and in this time frame, specifically). He was drunk, and he kept insisting. She was very uncomfortable, and he wasn't getting any better about it. I don't really ~know either of them, her, even less so. But at this moment I stepped in and pushed him away before things escalated. There was some back and forth, but when it was all done, she thanked me and that was that. I don't necessarily take 'pride' in stepping in, because this scenario should have never occurred in the first place. Surely there are millions of instances where these things happen, and in over half of those, no one steps in; it's sad. But that day I was happy to be the one to have made a slight difference in whatever the night could have ended up being. That moment has led me to step in in situations where I 'believe' something is wrong. Worst case, if I'm not, I'll be told to step aside. Best case? It could have a tiny, positive, impact.