I was raised
in a small rural community where everyone knew each other, house and car doors
were seldom locked. In the event of a family emergency, all neighbors came
together and to the rescue. You did not need government assistance and seldom
depended on the church for assistance other than spiritual.
From the
days of those memories in my youth to present time, our society has been in a
steady decline. Many of the mystery crime stories on television are about murder,
armed robbery, sexual assault, home invasion, drugs, and human trafficking. White
Collar crime is tolerable by comparison. Please forgive me, I am being
facetious.
I am writing
this post because of an incident that occurred recently in my personal life. I
have a habit of waking a couple of times during the night to get a drink of
water. Approximately three days ago I woke up soon after 3 in the morning and
as I reached for my bottled water, I thought I was still asleep when I heard
muffled voices in our family room or on our backyard deck.
Instinctively
I looked for my wife to make sure that she was still in bed asleep. Next, I
concentrated to make sure of what I was hearing. Since we only have the two of
us in the house, and two puppies 8 months old, any extra voices are cause for
alarm.
I had to
make an executive decision on the spot, and I did. I decided not to wake my
wife because I wanted her to stay safe in the bedroom while I dealt with what I
was almost certain would be a confrontation. As preparation for a confrontation
goes, I have always maintained a baseball bat by my side of the bed. On this occasion, we had been doing some end
of year cleaning and I had been breaking down cardboard boxes for recycling, so
I just happen to have a box opener handy.
I went down the hall without turning the lights on, prepared
to have the element of surprise on my side. So once again, I come through
without a scratch and the opportunity to gain experience, a lesson for future
use and to share. As I rounded the corner into the family room, I saw that the
television had been turned on, and that was the source of the voices. We have had power outages in the area, and
some dimming of lights without an electrical outage (culprit). I checked all
the windows and doors to secure the house.
Two days after the incident I decided to discuss it with my
wife and asked for her input. The bottom line is that we now have a plan in
place. She wants me to wake her up so that she can call 911 if necessary.
If you do not presently have a plan in place, please develop
one, and be sure to discuss it with other members of your household. You cannot
imagine how many times I have heard people say, “That has never happened in our
neighborhood before.
Someone once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Be safe in the New Year. The best is yet to come…
