Real life ain't like the dojo

I was given a sad but true reminder yesterday that the real world is not as friendly as the dojo world.
Mrs Meerkat was assaulted on the high street by some loser who decided it was a good idea to smack her on the behind as hard as he could. So hard in fact that people on the street turned to see what that sound was. Mrs M was so incensed she hurled abuse at the scumbag as he walked away. On hearing her scream at him he turned around and tried to physically menace her by walking right up to her eye ball to eye ball. More abuse and some forceful shoving away by Mrs M and he soon realised that she wasn't going to be intimidated, so off he minced, returning the abusive language.
The damned irony was that I was sitting in the car just around the corner, waiting to pick her up at our usual meeting spot, when all of this happened. I had no clue until she ran to the car, eyes welling up with anger and frustration. I'm afriad that the normally cool Meerkat saw red and we spent the best part of the evening trying to hunt down this saddo on the street. Already planning what almighty vengeance I was going to inflict on him.
Luckily for everyone, he couldn't be found and we headed home.

On reflection, I am not sure what my reaction would be if we caught him, other than a very violent and painful beating...clearly over the top and worthy of criminal punishment. I now realise that such as reaction would be wrong, but I saw first hand that adrenaline and emotions can override logic...sometimes.