Well... i think you really did very well. Keeping the mind calm and dont panicking in any situation is a great virtue. If analysed cold-bloodedly, most situations are FAR less dangerous than we think. We all are far more fearing than we should. So, keeping the calm is always a great thing to do, as a calm mind can think properly what is the best thing to do, without being bothered by irrational emotions, fears, and whatever, which only impairs the reason.
And you did very well in listening to that part of your head that said to keep calm and only watch... as you could see, it was right. Listening to our inner feelings or what some people calls intuition can be very useful.
In the rare situations where we need to trust our animal instincts, the feeling is far more intense. Like, you dont stand debating "should i stay or should i go?"... your both minds agree in a split-secont that you must flee (or attack) as fast as possible... and you do it. So, if in some situation you can stop and deliberate, its because the situation dont need the use of your animal instincts.
And to this specific situation of troubles with people, the best thing to do is not to interfere. If you disagree with someone, they will argue with you to prove theyre right. And the "total" disagreement will only increase. For example, lets say there is two people discussing. So, there is one disagreement. If you meddle in the discussion trying to make them behave as you wish, each one will disagree with you, and thus two new disagreements will appear. So, after you interfered in the discussion, the number of disagreements increased from one to three. Its much like to throw wood in a fire in hope to extinguish it.
Yet, if you stay silent and only watch, you arent feeding the discussion (or the fire), and thus its easier to it end.
Or, like some old wise (dont remember his name) said:
"One can accomplish anything by just not-doing". :thumbsup::stoned:
So, keep smoking, keep peaceful and everything will be OK! :hippy::rastasmoke: