Q&A: Helping a Person Who Refuses to Accept It
Helping a Person Who Refuses to Accept It
Question
I see, in my immediate surroundings, a situation that requires intervention by the legal authorities, and in the euphemistic language of “domestic peace,” it has reached extreme situations.
The injured party is aware of the situation, but for his or her own reasons refuses intervention by the legal authorities.
Am I allowed to ignore it???
Or should I in any case take the initiative regardless of what the injured party thinks?
Answer
Why use euphemistic language? You mean a situation of violence toward a family member. That is not a dirty word, but part of life, unfortunately.
I think there is reason to turn to the legal authorities, because in such situations, in most cases, the victim is not in a free state of mind to decide what he or she wants. It is roughly like intervening in a suicide attempt against the wishes of the person attempting suicide (although there it may be even worse, because that is a decision the person himself made). In any case, that is the presumption. That does not mean it is always what the injured party wants, but we have no way of knowing what he or she wants, and so we follow the presumptions.