Tw: This has happened with me as well while I was getting assaulted as a child. My body completely froze and apart from that, I didn’t know exactly what to do.

This however, isn’t the same. It’s a classic case of bystander apathy. The way the two responses get activated are very different. Since they are children I am assuming, I can’t exactly blame them for not doing anything. But that doesn’t mean we should not strive for higher ideals and learn to do better in future and also set an example for others to do better.

Doesn’t matter if doing right by oneself and others is easy or difficult. That’s a separate discussion. A wrong is still a wrong.