The Gift of Fear
9th April 2018
Whether it is learned the easy way or the hard way, the truth remains that your safety is yours. It is not the responsibility of the police, the government, industry, the apartment building manager, or the security company. Too often, we take the lazy route and invest our confidence without ever evaluating if it is earned. As we send our children off each morning, we assume the school will keep them safe, but as you’ll see in chapter 12, it might not be so. We trust security guards–you know, the employment pool that gave us the Son of Sam killer, the assassin of John Lennon, the Hillside Strangler, and more arsonists and rapists than you have time to read about. Has the security industry earned your confidence? Has government earned it? We have a Department of Justice but it would be more appropriate to have a department of violence prevention, because that’s what we need and that’s what we care about. Justice is swell, but safety is survival.
Highly recommended.
Government really has only two jobs: (1) Keep people safe, and (2) Keep people honest. Almost all governments do a very shitty job at both, and ALL governments waste time and money sticking their fingers into other areas that are really none of their damned business. This country is full of, and far too often run by, simple-minded fools who think that the predators in our midst are impressed by protests, demonstrations, candlelight vigils, and social media hashtags. “The People, United, Will Never Be Defeated!” Sorry, but history says pretty clearly that the people are wrong.
You are responsible for the safety of yourself, your kin, and your kith. Nobody else. You.
Take whatever action you deem appropriate. I hope I won’t be seeing you at your funeral.