A staff member talks down a young person holding a weapon, using calm language and empathy. He promises no police involvement, offers job alternatives, and eventually gets the youth to put the weapon down and let him inside.
What's up, bro? Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, chill, man. You all right? All right, all right. It ain't got to be like this, man. Don't got to be like this. We can talk. I just want to go on about my way. Hey, just chill for a minute. Just let me talk to you, all right? I'mma put mine down, you put yours down. Let's talk. I just want to go on about my way though. Hey, everything gonna be all right, bro. All we got to do is talk, all right? Hey, I done been there, dog. I done been on that side. All you got to do is talk to me, dog. What's wrong, man? What's wrong?
A lot of things going on.
All right, you got to put that down though so we We can talk, and let's talk about what you got going on. I promise you, bro, I ain't gonna call the police or nothing, but you gotta talk to me, all right? You can't do it like this. Let's just talk, bro. You wanna make some money? Let's talk about making some money, all right? All right? This ain't the life you wanna live, bro. Come talk to me.
I'm putting mine down now. Come on in.
Come talk to me, man. All right. This is my brother, man. All right, my little brother. Let's talk about your little brother in the house, dog. Let's get, let's get from out here. All right.
Now instantly I know that some people was like, oh no, like you basically would have blew his socks off. And I get it, you know, but me working in juvenile hall for 17 years, I've definitely had several experiences where I was able To talk a youth down, even when they were way up here, where they right in the middle of doing something crazy, and get them to the space where they didn't make that decision and their life became better after that. Man, I can remember even having a fight with a youngster in the street and he threatened to kill me right after, and I had the same conversation with that young person and we ended up not having to do anything to each other because we talked it out. This is a perfect example. When emotions are high, logic can be low. And that older gentleman that came out of his house, he had his emotions in check. He took that purposeful pause. He managed the way that he reacted and he connected to that young person's spirit. And now they have an opportunity to reset, realign, and live to see another day. Emotional intelligence.
I was literally kicked off a Southwest flight before for being disrespectful.
