Did he just STAB that guy????

     What's wrong with people? Why does a fight escalate into a possible life or death situation? So I'm riding the lightrail home from Tempe today, listening to my Nano and ignoring people like I always do. I notice a heated discussion going on so naturally I took out my earpieces.  For the sake of the story I will call one guy Tom and the other guy John. Tom is a drunk, toothless man in his 50's who looked to be about three sheets to the wind . John was a man in his 40's with a gruff look who was not in the mood to be bothered by a drunk. As anyone who lives in a major city will tell you, being bothered by a drunk is a daily occurrence if you chose to ride your city's transit system.
     The argument seemed to be over Tom's insistence of having one of John's cigarettes. It got more and more heated as Tom either was too stupid or too drunk to let it go. John threatened him with an ass whooping and got in his face before he appeared to let it go and return to where he was standing. Being the drunk that Tom appeared to be, he still didn't let it go. They decided to get off at the next lightrail stop to have it out. This is not a unique occurrence around the lightrail here in Phoenix. They walk on the platform and John connects with a crushing straight right to the jaw. Tom is sent to his knee as he gathers himself for his retaliation. Being drunk and swinging wildly, he doesn't come close to connecting on his right hook. John takes this opportunity to rush him, get close and deliver what initially appeared to be several right hooks to the ribs. When he backed away, I noticed it wasn't his fist he used but what appeared to be a knife with a 3" blade. As the lightrail pulls away, Tom pulls his shirt up and the passengers on the lightrail notice a good amount of blood starting to run down his abdomen.
    The guy riding beside me takes out his phone and dials 911 to get Tom some help. As he does this, two guys who may or may not have been with John start to yell at the dialer in an attempt to threaten and intimidate him to hang up the phone. Naturally, I stood up and yelled a profanity laced tirade back at them. "You stay on that phone", I instructed the young gentleman. The two guys decided to threaten me. "I'm not going anywhere, he's staying on the phone with the cops and if you've got a problem then what the fuck are you waiting for?". At this moment a rather large man sitting a couple seats behind me stands up and yells "Hooah! I got your back bro." as he laid his hand on my shoulder. This act of solidarity had its intended effect as there was no further incident and the two instigators got off at the next lightrail stop. The young gentleman stayed on the phone with the cops until they reached Tom and I was off the lightrail within a minute after the fact.
     An incident like this will always get the blood pumping and the hairs on your arm at full attention. It is a grim reminder of a main difference between living in the fifth largest city in the US and living in the country suburbs of Central Virginia. Two lessons to be learned. You don't know anyone's intentions so don't be that annoying drunk guy. And two is best summed up by Edmund Burke when he said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. To Tom, I hope you are all right but i also hope that you learned your lesson in all of this. And to that large military man who had my back, I say "Hooah!"