DEAR ABBY: Two years ago, my boyfriend beat me up. He said he was sorry, so I gave him another chance. The second time it happened, I made him move out. A week later, he came after me.
Fearing for my life, I ran outside, thinking I was safe with so many neighbors around. (I lived in a mobile home park.) I was wrong. Nobody helped me.
He started beating on me, and I ran from trailer to trailer with him chasing me as I screamed at the top of my lungs, "Somebody, please call the police!" He caught me, knocked me to the ground and beat me unconscious. It was a summer day and everyone had the windows open. I was screaming so loud, I could have been heard a block away.
Abby, I wasn't asking people to risk their lives. I just wanted someone to pick up a phone and call the police. One neighbor even closed his door because my screams disturbed him! When I confronted him later, he said, "I didn't want to get involved."
I still have nightmares about that terrible experience -- not the beating, but pleading for help while everyone looked the other way.
To make a long story short, I pressed charges against the man. He was put away for two years and ordered not to return to this community. -- ILLINOIS VICTIM
DEAR VICTIM: I would like to believe that people are basically good, but there is too much evidence to the contrary to accept that theory. What a sad commentary on the nature of mankind.
"Man's inhumanity to man
"Makes countless thousands mourn!"
-- Robert Burns, 1759-1796