Speaking out of turn

What do you do when you hear about something unjust or wrong, but doesn't directly involve you? Do you ignore it, or do you say something?

I don't know what to do in situations like this. There have been a few times where I was not sure if I should have, or could have intervened in a situation. For example, I saw this guy with the most adorable pitbull puppy at a train station. I overheard him saying he was going to "get his money back" and "put him in the ring."

I love dogs. The thought of this adorable puppy fighting in a ring made me sick. But what could I have done? I didn't have the man's ID, nor did I think that I caught enough of the conversation to really understand what was going on. So, I did nothing.

However, I may have spoken out of turn a few times. I was at a friend's house talking to her and some of her friends from college. This college was not BYU, so drinking and smoking were considered normal activities. Two of them were reminiscing about a guy who never smoked or drank while at college, but had adopted the habit of drinking after graduation. For the sake of this story, we'll call him George. One of the people then admitted to getting George drunk, giving George cigarettes while was drunk, and encouraging George to smoke.

After hearing this, I basically told this person, who I had known for a grand total of 10 minutes, that I thought smoking is disgusting and how George's newfound alcohol use is more of a tragedy than a celebratory event. I then told him how appalled I was that he would give drunk George a cigarette, and how I thought he was doing George a complete disservice by doing so. I then told him that his actions showed that he's obviously not a great friend, as a good friend would try to stop George from doing things that are bad for George.

I definitely did not win any popularity contests that night, and I think my mouth got the better of me. I didn't plan on saying anything, but the words just spilled out. My friend mentioned that she was glad I said something, for she was thinking the exact same thing.

I'm not sure if I'm gutsy or just plain stupid. Probably a little bit of both. Either way, I'm not sure if I made a mistake, or if I'm justified in what I did.

I just hope George doesn't smoke again. I hate cigarettes.