Dee Jordan is a mental health consumer from Alabama.
I was not the least bit manic two weeks ago when I went to Cracker Barrel to have breakfast. I was normal, calm, and the day was nondescript. I finished up, paid my bill, and headed to my truck. Then it happened: everything changed.
I was about to crank my truck up to leave when a man and woman rounded the corner of the building. I could tell they were fussing because he was wildly flailing his hands. A second man came around the corner and the two men started fighting. The woman, crying, walked to her car, parked next to me. The bully left the man ready to whip his ass and went over to the wife's window, which she had rolled up. She had also locked her doors. I was about to back out when I heard him scream at her, above my truck's motor, that he was going to break out the window if she didn't roll it down. She complied and to my horror, he started punching her in her face, then he grabbed her and choked her.
Well, that made me extremely mad, pumping me full of adrenalin, which tipped my brain's chemicals into a hypo-manic state. I cut my truck off, and I opened my door. Next, I went around her car telling him he'd better stop what he was doing right now (with an implied I'm going to kick your ass). I had no fear. He saw it in my eyes. He only hits women who are scared of him.
I was three-fourths his size and half of his weight. I took a couple of steps towards him. Thank God, he ran and jumped into his pick-up truck. I ran up and banged on the windows of Cracker Barrel to get someone's attention to call the police. He started backing out and I ran behind his truck. He scratched off but I memorized his license plate. I ran back to the window and yelled it out through the glass, while one of the managers wrote it down. The lady started backing out, and I convinced her to stay and wait on the police, telling her that she didn't have to arrest him because I was going to make a citizen's arrest. She stayed. Once the man left, then the manager and the other man came out to wait on the police.
I gave an oral and a written statement and agreed to testify in court. I stayed with the woman, who was in shock, until the police came to take her statement. The manager witnessed it from inside, so he gave a statement too.
Now, here is the question: “Were I not bipolar and capable of getting hypo-manic, making me extremely strong and fearless, would I have done this? The answer is probably “no.” No one else came out of the building to help the woman. Not even the other man made the effort. They were all inside calling the police, but no one was risking getting in harm's way. It's moments like this when I am glad that I'm bipolar. I think I might have been a hero to that lady. I know I saved her life.