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By Brooks A. Mick, M.D.
Feb. 21, 2006 I've written a little about safety in the urban jungle here before, some fairly specifically in a travel security piece directed toward military travelers, and made some recommendations about pocket items which could contribute to safety and self-defense. But now I want to get tougher and more direct. Many years ago Georgie Ann Geyer, the famous political columnist and world traveler, wrote that the reality is that "there are bullies in the street." She was actually referring mostly to the Soviet Union and other anti-American, anti-civilization dictatorships and totalitarian regimes, but the metaphor applied to the microcosm as well as the macro. There are bullies in the street, and worse, there are predators. Like the cheetahs and leopards and lions and hyenas of the jungle, they prey on the weak and the unprepared and the unwary. Now, while crime is at a low point compared to past years, take the time to prepare yourself so you avoid becoming prey. Crime, as with other things, runs in cycles, and it will surely increase some day. Be ready. First, don't look like prey. Walk briskly. Stay alert, aware of surroundings, and don't drift off into your inner dreamworld. Pay attention to people who get too close to you, bump into you, make whispered remarks, or otherwise test you to see if you are alert. They may ask for the time, for directions, or to use your cell phone. If you behave passively or give in or try to edge slowly away, they will sense weakness. On the other hand, if you turn confidently toward them and tell them to back off and do not acquiesce to their demands, they will likely move on to weaker prey. Bullies feed on fear. Don't show it. Muggers are looking for hesitancy in their victims. They are looking for inattention. They are looking for weakness. Don't walk with your head down; keep it up and eyes roving. Don't walk slowly, don't look aimless, don't look like a wounded zebra. Look like a strong, healthy zebra. If you have a limp, are elderly, and can't walk briskly, then don't go out alone or with other elderly prospective victims. Don't follow the same routine all the time. You come home from work at 6:30, get out of your car, head for your house after opening the garage door, and around the back corner of your garage flies a couple burglars with baseball bats and charge into you, flailing away, and gain entrance to your house through the open door, and they have you in their control to tie up, threaten, or torture, forcing you to reveal where the valuables are kept. They had parked down the street a few days noticing when you got home. And you, being the trusting and inattentive type, HADN'T NOTICED THEM while they were scouting you out, and you had bopped in at the same old time. Don't visit the ATM the same time, don't go to the bank on the same payday every time, don't take the same route from home to work, don't be too darn predictable! And, I repeat, stay alert to your surroundings. It has been said, "Don't bring a knife to a gunfight." I disagree. Bring a gun AND bring a knife. You can never have too much armament. Learn how to use your chosen weapons. Practice with your pistol. Too often the armed citizen has not thought through and practiced what he needs to do. Even trained soldiers often just fire away randomly and without aiming. People who are quite good at shooting holes in paper will fire a full magazine of ammo at a robber standing 10 feet away and miss him with every shot. It sounds funny, but it isn't. Get your concealed carry license and carry your defensive sidearm. It does you little good in the trunk of your car or in a drawer back home. There is more to come in Part Deux. http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/new/article129.htm http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/nov/article359.html Look before you leap. ------------ About the author Brooks A. Mick: Physician, still practicing medicine but retired from the US Army. Write just for the fun of it, but working on novel in the vein of Tom Clancy's politico-military genre. Email: brooks15@cox.net Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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