Sep 08 2008
Healthy Paranoia
Friday night I went to a party at a friend’s house. A bit into the party, we discovered we needed more drinks, so another woman and I volunteered to run to the grocery store and pick up some things. We went to the nearest Farm Fresh. When we arrived, there were two or three police cars, a couple other cars, and maybe a dozen people clustered in front of the store. We were curious what happened, but went about our business.
As it turns out, this is what happened: Woman abducted from Williamsburg grocery store parking lot
Suddenly I’m really glad I’m a little paranoid about where I park and about keeping my car doors locked. Not that that’s a guarantee that something like this wouldn’t happen to me, but at least I know I’m doing the things the police suggest as a step towards avoiding this kind of thing.
Of course, I’m also really glad I didn’t go to the grocery store a couple hours earlier than I did.
This is something I think about now and then. I always park as close as I can to a streetlight and to a busy business, especially at night. I lock my car doors no matter where I am, even at the gas station while I’m pumping gas. I keep all my doors and windows at home locked, and keep the blinds closed. I’m super-protective of my personal information, like my address and phone numbers (I especially don’t like when someone gives out my information without asking me first; I want to know where that information is going.)
The fact is, I don’t have much in the way of physical protection abilities going for me. Sure, I could theoretically put up a fight, and adrenaline would push me to run away if could. But mostly what I have to protect myself is brain, not brawn. So I have to be smart and do what I can to not put myself in a dangerous situation to begin with. Maybe that makes me a little paranoid. But when I read about something like what happened Friday night, I’m pretty much ok with paranoid.
