Monolog Personal Experience: "In the Presence of Abuse"

Last summer, I went to my beach-house at "Asia", a location oriented to the South of Lima, in which several sets of different "beach-clubs" are joined to form one big community through approximately 10 km of coast. A typical Friday or Saturday night would include getting together with my friends from different beaches and going out to "The Boulevard" were a series of different night-clubs and bars can be located. I got into a very popular club for young people in which my friends and I normally party and went up to the bar as I usually did. As I was in the bar I realized that near the seating-area next to it (lounging area) there was a kid who apparently was "wasted" and was asleep in one of the sofas. This young kid was completely passed out in the couch and I could tell that the people who were near that area were looking at him and there were mixed opinions on his state. Some people (mainly women) felt bad for him but didn't do anything; others (mainly other young men) were laughing/staring at his drunken state and commenting on it. To be completely honest, I was not planning on helping the kid out because he had been very irresponsible to consume so much alcohol without moderation, and I planned on getting something to drink and going back with my friends to have a good time. While I was waiting to get the attention of the barman, I realized some young men were beginning to mess around with the boy by throwing some drops of beer in his face, flicking the ash of their cigarettes onto him (his clothes, his hair). I did not move from the bar while I saw this take place since I was still waiting for my drink/attention from the barman but I was observing the situation closely. All of the sudden the boy woke up, furious (probably more because he was drunk) and stared at the group around him as to decided on who he was going to punch. In the mist of his confusion he saw one of these guys and decided to push him and say something like “Hey! What the f@ck!” and that’s when one of the taller guys in the group punched him in the face and soon a group of 4-5 guys were hitting him all over the place. The whole event took less than 15 seconds but in my perspective seemed many times longer in duration. After this took place, the bullies fled and the kid who was punched was feeling terrible because apart from being drunk he was now all cut, bruised, and crying. This was a situation were to be honest I have never felt worse. I actually had feelings of empathy with the kid since I know what it is like to be beaten-up. I felt truly impotent to what had occurred and regretted not having stopped those guys and hated the fact that I was  selfish to take care of my needs prior to helping someone else. After this day I learned a real good lesson, I decided to never allow this to take effect by stopping it prior to the climax of the conflict.