Go the Other Way

This morning, I did a Bible study in Proverbs 4. Verses 14-15 tell us to stay away from evil people, avoid their path, and go on our way.
This wisdom proverb reminds me of what my parents used to say to us children when we were growing up. If we saw a crowd of troublemakers, we were instructed to go the other way instead of attaching ourselves to the crowd.
When I taught elementary school, I told my students the same thing. On the playground, many of the students had a tendency to rush over to a crowd where a fight was brewing. They wanted to encourage the fight to happen, laugh at the fighters, cheer on one of the fighters, get a few licks in, or see who won the fight. We teachers encouraged the students to alert an adult and let adults handle the matter. That is wiser than joining a crowd which supports violence.
When some of the onlookers got punished along with the fighters, they would protest, "But I wasn't the one fighting. I was just watching!"
The response of the school disciplinarian was often, "You knew it was a fight. You should have gone the other way."
Take care,
Sylvia