When Joey, some friends, and I exited a metro station, we saw two police harassing this poor old women. She was selling water bottles and they smacked them out of her hands, stomped on them on the ground, poured water on the floor, and took pictures of it too. A nearby women stole one of the water bottles that had rolled away after the police men threw them to the ground.
I was extremely upset to see this. My friend told me that she was not aloud to sell water bottles because it created a bad impression for foreigners. From a foreigner’s point of view, she was not the one creating a bad impression. I wanted to do something, to help her, both Joey and I wanted to, but we didn’t know what to do so we did what everyone else did and kept walking.
After watching the gutter oil video, I remembered that my mom told me that the people that sell water use fake, polluted, and dirty water so that they can sell it for cheaper. I remember the disgust and revolt I felt when thinking about the times that I’ve eaten street food and knowing what was used to make it and I felt the same disgust and revolt when I thought about the lady selling water.
In conclusion, maybe things aren’t always so black and white. Sure, the police men were a little aggressive, but maybe they were doing the right thing. It’s always really hard to tell, especially when you can barely understand the language.