Snipers and Random ViolenceWritten by Laura Quarantiello
Editor: The following article is offered for free use as long as Resource Box at close is included. SNIPERS AND RANDOM VIOLENCE By Laura Quarantiello © Tiare Publications Group 410 words Random violence, by its very nature, can't be predicted. The serial sniper shootings Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are proof that anyone can be a victim at any time. The killing grounds are common areas such as parking lots, service stations, and street corners - everyday locations that we find ourselves in all time. Could victims in these cases have done anything to protect themselves? Could they have avoided danger? The one common denominator in shootings is that they happened in public places. Once you step outside protective embrace of your locked home, you are vulnerable. It doesn't matter where you are - your driveway or a shopping mall parking garage - you are equally at risk for violence. The only way to protect yourself is to be on guard and watchful - to listen to your intuition and realize that it can happen to you. Watch for these signs of potential trouble: · Individuals standing alone or wandering around. · Individuals in parked cars or driving repeatedly through an area. · Groups gathered on corners, in doorways, alleys, or parking lots. · Anyone observing you with more than casual interest. · Anyone following you. · Anyone hanging around your home, business, or car. Avoid: · Shrubbery or trees that could conceal someone. · Dark, deserted or isolated areas such as side streets, alleys, parking lots, parks, public restrooms, tunnels, or ATM machines. · Groups of people loitering, especially if you're alone. · Individuals approaching you directly for no reason, especially in parking lots and parks.
| | You're How Old?!?Written by David Leonhardt, The Happy Guy
"Well, Happy Birthday! How old are you anyway?""Oh, I'm just 29 … again." It's a harmless game, denying our age, right? We play sensitive about our age as we get older, as we get further away from birth and closer to death. It's just a way to share our unease of growing older with people around us. Try as we might, time marches on and we get older just same. I was reminded about this when I recently read that we are now seven million years old. That's at least a million years older than we were just one year ago. Of course, that does not mean you or I personally aged a million years in past 365 days. That would be either a horror movie or work of a genius. An early human skull found in Sahara Desert is 7 million years old, pushing "the start of human evolution back at least another million years." For you and me, age is important. Denying one's age, or even being sensitive about it, can be disabling. Our years, our lines, our scars are part of who we are. They should be a matter of comfort and pride. Happiness eludes us when we feel embarrassed, guilty, or shy about who we are. It's time for each of us to take pride again in everything we are. Try saying something like this: "I am pushing 40 (or whatever age applies to you). I have lived 40 years. I have survived 40 years. I have experienced 40 years. I have learned from 40 years. (I have much more to learn, so God, please let me live another 40!) I have thrived, mostly, during 40 years. And I am proud of every one of those years." Once upon a time, elders of village were revered. They bore both knowledge and wisdom. Now we settle for just knowledge. The elders carried traditions down from generations. Now we just create brand new "traditions". The elders were our leaders. Now we downsize them.
|
