Have I ever been helped by a police officer?
Well, if we're talking about direct interactions with police officers in my life, it's pretty much limited to the times I've asked for directions at a police box.
I haven't had an experience that I would call being "helped," nor have I been "taken care of" (in either a good or bad sense).
However, there was an incident that comes close to that.
It happened over a decade ago. It was during New Year's of that year, and I participated in a demonstration. Initially, I had no idea what the demonstration was about. All I knew was that it started with the intention of turning public roads into playgrounds.It sounded fun, so I joined in.
Towards the end of the demonstration, all participants walked and sang along to the main theme of "Otoko wa Tsurai yo!" which was playing from the campaign vehicle we were following. I remember that vividly.
Then, I asked another participant what the demonstration was actually about, and they told me it was a demonstration calling for filial piety from unfilial children who didn't even return home for New Year's. Turns out, I had been lumped in with the unfilial. In reality, I was one of them.Anyway, it was a rather relaxed demonstration.
And of course, there were dozens of police officers gathered around.
After the demonstration ended, we decided to grab something to eat. Everyone brought side dishes, rice balls, and alcohol they bought from convenience stores, and we gathered in a plaza near the station to have lunch with a few of the participants.
That's when the "incident" occurred. As we were eating and chatting, about ten to twenty police officers marched up and surrounded us, demanding, "This is obstructing the thoroughfare, please move to another location."
But here we were, just a few people, and they outnumbered us three or four times over. It seemed to us that the police were the ones causing the obstruction.
Our representative stood up to them, and after a bit of a scuffle, we eventually backed down. But the funniest part was that beyond the circle of police officers, there was an even larger crowd of onlookers surrounding us. And they were all pointing and laughing at us.
You'd laugh too, right? I felt like I was part of a comedy sketch.
It was like a script written by God.
And I thought to myself,
"God, surely you have better things to do!"