How Many Times Have You Thought, That Couldn't Happen In Our Neighborhood...?

 If you watch the news (as we used to do...), you'll see a story about something horrible that happened in a quiet, sleepy neighborhood. Inevitably, a reporter will interview a local and the shocked resident will say something like, "I didn't think anything like that could happen in our neighborhood. It's such a safe place to live."

Seems to happen all the time.

It makes sense. You live in an area that you believe is safe, safe for your kids, your pets, your cars, your property. Then, someone comes along and shatters that idilic image by doing something bad. The trust that once existed is gone, possibly forever. It's just not the same when bad things happen to people who thought it couldn't happen to them.

Last week someone drove up to a home being built in the neighborhood next to ours and took all the windows that were waiting to be installed on the house. I haven't heard if they've been caught. Still, even if they recover the stolen goods, something like that can delay a project for months. One of our neighbors last year walled in their porch. They waited more than half a year just for the windows.

It's despicable.

We felt safe in our old neighborhood. One night someone went around to all the cars parked on the street, opened the unlocked car doors, and stole whatever they could find...loose change, CDs, whatever was there. Our neighbors asked if we were hit and we said we were not because we locked our car doors. It's easy to be trusting of others, but we still locked our doors...something we continue to do today.

We moved from an area where a million people lived within a 50 miles radius. Now, there's less than ten percent of that at our new place. With less people, you think there's less chance of getting robbed. That's true statistically, but I think those who steal from others are looking for areas where people think it couldn't happen in their neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, it's just not true.