Social Insecurity? (no, not about retirement)
April 27, 2007 10:11 pmThis morning, I woke up at about 7:30am, a little later than usual. Did the usual morning routine. As I walked into the kitchen, though, I noticed that the sound of construction work seemed a little bit louder than it should be. Glancing over at the backdoor, I found that it was half-way open!
At first, I thought that it may have been Frank-the-ass-cat. Sometimes, if the door isn’t completely shut tight, and he wants out, he’ll paw at the underside of the door until he pulls it open. He’s quite innovative. But as I went to shut the door, I noticed the dead-bolt was extended. Jutting-out. As-in: “with the dead-bolt in the position it was in, the door cannot be opened or closed.”
This got my brain crunching a bit: “If the deadbolt was extended, the simplest explanation is that someone opened the door and then extended the deadbolt.” but I knew it wasn’t Melissa or myself. There were a number of other possibilities, all equally unlikely, including sleepwalking, gnomes, and our pets having telekinesis. What I settled on was “The door wasn’t completely closed and the deadbolt wasn’t completely extended, and Frank-the-ass-cat pulled the door open. When he did, the deadbolt slipped the rest of the way out.” I’m still not totally settled on that though. Before I left for work this morning, I went down into the basement and looked all around to check for signs of intruders (or intruders themselves)
Tonight, while laying in bed with my wife and infant son, I saw the back-porch light click on. This wasn’t TOTALLY unheard of — it’s motion activated, and a bit sensitive. But what would trigger it? The back door was closed and locked, and the back screen-door is spring-loaded to close by itself. The simple explanation is that something/someone was on the back porch (it’s completely barren except for some garden tools). What else could there be though? Did the wind blow through the screen-door and cause one of the curtains to move? Were there very large moths? I didn’t open the door and look, but I did listen. No reason to let whatever is out there into our house.
I suppose the paranoia is mostly rooted in the wave of recent crimes we’ve had that are uncharacteristic to this community. Within the past month we’ve had two bank robberies (a couple guys from Dayton robbed two local banks in the same week), our very close friend Joe Augustin was assaulted, robbed, and left nearly dead in plain sight downtown (the assailants are currently released on bond, trial in October), there’s someone being charged with attempted murder for shooting at a car that was passing by (he’s released on bond), a Kentucky man was found trying to lure an 8-year old boy into his van, and the police found human remains down in southwest Wayne county (middle-aged male, tattoo on one arm, unidentified otherwise).
What is going on around here? Is there some cosmological event that is make people more aggressive/desperate than usual? All of these things happening makes me a bit uncomfortable to be living in this town! It also makes me want to invest in ADT home security or something. It’s really unsettling to realize how vulnerable you are. We shouldn’t have to fear walking the streets at night, and we shouldn’t have to think about people toting guns around.
I’m open to suggestions about this — What can we do as a community?
Categories: Rants
3 Responses to “Social Insecurity? (no, not about retirement)”
You know, it’s not like we live in Detroit.
Yeah, I think about these things, too. It’s not like we live in Detroit or the south side of Chicago (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but I am nevertheless reminded of the fact that everyone that I’ve ever heard of and have ever known personally who was a victim of a “hard” crime has, without exception, said that they could not believe that it happened to them. While I have not experienced anything like this myself, like you, I have friends and family who have unexpectedly found themselves in very difficult situations. Recently, one of these friends, who actually lives nearby (out here in the country), stopped by his home in the middle of the day and surprised two strangers ransacking and robbing his house. They jumped him, worked him over, and then fled. Fortunately, he is okay and they were caught not long after that. But it will be years before he and his family completely recover emotionally.
Personally, I don’t think the answer lies in “what we can do as a community,” but rather in what we can do personally.
We are always, in varying degress, going to be vulnerable to crime and unexpected violence. But rather than just blithely accept our vulnerability, I think everyone needs to think about personal security and take conscious, intentional steps to do what they can to protect the people they love. I have always encouraged my family to think proactively and to try to be aware of the possibilities of unexpected danger. For us, preparedness includes property security, situational awareness, and a basic understanding of self-defense, including firearm skills. Like anything else, knowledge, training, and skill works for you. Most important is the understanding that when something bad does occur, it is virtually always unforeseen and it happens very fast. Knowing this doesn’t mean you won’t be surprised, but it may mean that you will be able to recover or react more quickly than if you weren’t, even in some small way, mentally prepared.
To think thus does not mean to walk in fear, but rather the opposite. If anything, it is empowering to know that you are less likely to be a victim simply because you are paying attention, you’ve accepted some personaly responsibility, and you have armed yourself with some basic survival techniques.
I think the biggest thing I try to remind myself is to not be fearful — fear is a huge liability when in those kinds of situations. Sure, we all think to ourselves “Well, if *I* was in something like that, I would do ____.” But the reality of it is that when a bad circumstance happens to you, it happens really, really fast. Being able to control your fear, stay focused and calm is the best thing you can do, IMHO.
Care to comment?