The spotlight from the police helicopter overhead blinds me as I look up to look to see where it is. And, of course, the helicopter is directly over our neighborhood, looking for someone no doubt. This is an at least bi-weekly occurrence, and puts my wife and I on edge for the rest of the night.
Thoughts go through your head of escaped convicts or dangerous criminals running through the backyard. Than I realize something, there are dangerous criminals around us 24/7, maybe right next door or taking your cash at the local convenience store.
Than again, they are in more places than that but I like to keep my nervous system from overloading.
That's the truth though isn't it, we're surrounded by danger all the time, we just don't think about it. Because if we did, we'd all be locked behind a 12 inch steel door with shotgun in hand. We tell ourselves things like "Oh, that's never going to happen to me" or "I don't live in that kind of neighborhood". It's been proven time and time again that neither of those statements is true, anything can happen to anyone, anytime. I myself have felt the cold steel barrel of a gun in the back of my throat at 12 in the afternoon, let me tell you, it can happen to you.
But let's face the reality of it all a little deeper here, the worlds never been a perfect place free of danger. In fact, it's the complete opposite, the world has always been a dangerous place full of perilous steps. I realized after my experience with the violence of the world one simple thing, you should think about it and be wary of it, but don't let it handicap you.
As I'm sure anyone who's been through that situation or something similar would know, it can easily handicap you just as easily as losing a leg or going blind can.
The world isn't going to be changing anytime soon, in fact it will probably get worse before it gets better.
I have two reasons for stating the obvious in this post:
One, don't ever think that your special and nothing terrible will ever happen to you, the truth is that you could truly die tomorrow, this could be the last time you see your children or wife or best friends or parents, live life like you won't wake up tomorrow and every moment is a precious gift.
Two, don't be afraid to live, don't be on edge about what might happen, don't suspect everyone of being a danger. This will handicap you and keep you from doing what I stated in reason one, living every moment like it's a precious gift.
That's all for now, thank you for listing to my thoughts, good luck, happy days and good nights.
I know the feeling. Living in NYC, I am lucky that nothing has happened in my neighborhood so far. We happen to live on the border of Brooklyn/Queens. Don't get me wrong, I love Brooklyn but in some parts of it I am aware of my surroundings.
ReplyDeleteWe get helicopters flying over the city every day. We have had that ever since 9/11. These helicopters are keeping an eye out for terrorists.
I think about them from time to time too especially around holidays and anything that draws big crowds because thats what terrorists are looking for. Since I'm in one of those vulnerable cities where anything can happen, you tend to get used to it over the years.