In the news recently, I read an article about a young mother and school teacher who was murdered by her neighbors.
The gist of the story is as follows:
The victim received a late evening telephone call from a fellow who used to plow her driveway. He asked her for some help since their vehicle had broken down on some side road. The victim packs up her two year old and goes to help the plowman. Upon reaching the 'disabled' vehicle, she exits her SUV and walks over to their car at which point the plowman and his wife proceed to beat her into oblivion and stuff her into the back seat of their car where the wife choked her to death. They then disposed of her body by pouring bleach on it and dumping it into a river.
The young woman was a high school teacher in a town not too far from my unassuming, quiet hometown. Many of us knew her. It should be very difficult to tell oneself that 'these things only happen in cities and horror movies' when your hometown turns into that horror movie.
It is not a story I particularly like to think on, but there are many lessons in it and I hope by setting them out that we can get across the main point of the day. It did not have to happen. I repeat, it DID NOT have to happen.
Firstly, you receive this phone call. Why do you feel the need to go tend to the problem yourself? You are not a mechanic. What is possibly wrong with calling the police and reporting a disabled vehicle? Call the cops, the mechanic, AAA. Why do you leave your cozy house in the late evening, well after 9pm, to go out?
Secondly, if you do have some reason to go out. Why are you not armed? Even if it is only your neighbor and you are confident they're wonderful people, there could be other less wonderful people betwixt you and your goal. Or your neighbors might be being held hostage by a horrible person which is why they made the phone call in the first place! Good heavens, you even live in a state where concealed carry doesn't need a license. Go armed, please, or don't go.
Thirdly, why are you taking your child out of their warm bed? I admit that this move simply doesn't make sense to me. If you have a young child at home, isn't that all the more reason to send someone else to deal with the problem?
Fourthly. Ok. So you've made up your mind; you're going, and you're going unarmed. You arrive and pull up behind the disabled car. Why do you immediately get out of your vehicle and proceed toward the problem? Why do you not wait for the caller to come over and talk to you through your window? Then you can find out the problem, if it's that they've run out of petrol, you will be in a much better position to drive off and get some. It will save time. If they need a jump start, well you'll be in a much better position to move your vehicle to theirs. If they plan on murdering you, well, you're a heck of a lot better off in your car where you can drive away than out of it.
I don't know about you, but I haven't car knowledge beyond fetching someone break fluid, gasoline, a jump start, changing a tire, or getting more help. And I would think anyone who used to plow my driveway would know all of that stuff.
Fifth. So you get out of the car and go to the problem. Look friend, take a gun, a taser, pepper spray, mace, a pipe wrench, something. Please. And listen to your gut, if they don't come to you, there's a reason, get back in the car and drive away. You can always say 'woops I thought I made a wrong turn'. Or call the cops and wait if it's all so fired up important to you to stay.
I'll close with a favorite quote of mine:
"Stay low, move fast, think smart, and if you go, take someone with you." ~ Pete Thornton from MacGyver.
Tweaked a bit gives:
If you go, go armed. Please. Don't do this. Because it didn't have to happen.
