Fight or flight

It's interesting how we all behave differently. Some of us will take a stand, while others will just go away and avoid some situations. Some will stand ground, and some will leave the dust behind them. I've not written in the past couple of weeks because there's nothing particularly exciting going on...

However! Last saturday, I witnessed for the first time in my life a proper fight. Fists and all. Kicks and all. Bites too. I admit that I was totally in chock. I shan't go into the details of what happened, but let's say that someone with guts intervened when everybody else kept staring... Anyways... The person who intervened, let's call him Pinkie, took it upon himself to stand up for someone else. Pinkie got hit bad, and frankly, initially, I could not move, I could not do anything because (like I said) I had never seen a fight before. Pinkie was on the floor and there were punches and kicks, and hair being pulled. All of this, of course, could have been resolved if the Asshole (the aggressor) listened. If he as much as talked, he would have calmed down...

This is not about the fight though... Or Pinkie who got bit on the leg (can you imagine? Someone biting you in a fight?)... Or even about how some guys have absolutely no balls... This is about how I just froze... Despite the fact that I've been doing Aikido (on and off, but hopefully on for good), I just froze. After 1 mn, I snapped back to reality, pulled some ears and tried calming down some of the people involved in the fight. I was talking and grabbed the hands of one of them, pressed gently and made him stop and relax... Did the same with another person, and that seemed to work too...

But I hate fighting. I hate violence. I hate conflict. I wondered then if the 4 hours I have were enough, if they are actually worth it (am I going anywhere with this? Can I help someone else?). Should I be doing another form of martial arts, something that is a bit more aggressive? More importantly, what makes some people involved and not others? Were the guys more aggressive because of alochol? Was a macho thing? I've been really thinking about all of this and I can't seem to be able to sort it out...

Thoughts?