...not paranoid?
First of all, apologies if you read this in other places on the 'Net. I plan to ask as many people as are willing to read to help me figure out what to do. I also apologize for the length in advance.
I just got off the phone with my wife. She's a law school student, and her school is in an uproar today because a student, a girl, is missing. Very missing. Police seem to be considering foul play, although they aren't saying specifically.
Immediately I start to think about how many times my wife goes out alone, which, since she's a very liberated, headstrong woman, is a lot. She does not carry, even those she has a CT permit. I actually prefer it that way, since she does not practice much mentally or physically for the challenges of gun ownership, much less concealed carry. She has also expressed some alarming thoughts to me at times, like she'd rather "shoot him in the leg" or "I couldn't do it, I couldn't kill someone, no matter what they were doing." I could have 293,847 cops here to tell her how damn stupid "shoot him in the leg" is, and she's still going to feel like she couldn't do it.
So, I am glad, in a way, that she doesn't carry now. She's coming around, slowly, to understanding the burning outrage of a false gun story on the news, she's coming around a bit more to the center politically (She was a radical Dem...member of the DNC, contributed to Dem parties on the local, state and fed level...no tolerance for the Libertarian view, or the Right. she sees the Left for what it is now, I think. Just as flawed as any other extreme.)...but she's still not ready to carry.
So how the hell do I get her to be more aware? To prepare for something that may never happen? She has a good pepper spray, which I plan to change for her on a regular basis to make sure it's always working and fresh. She has a cell phone, that I talked her into, but keeps it buried in that deathtrap she calls a purse. I'm going to try to talk her into carrying it clipped to pocket or belt (it's a StarTAC, so tiny she'd barely know it's there.)
The big problem is, to be honest, she's a bit scatter-brained in the awareness department. The girl is razor sharp in school. Probably top in her class right now...constantly amazing me these days with the great work she'd doing, but go ahead and ask her what color my shirt is after I leave the room, or what color the car was that has been behind her for 8 blocks...you get the idea. She walks around with blinders on. You'd need a marching band and clown shoes on to get her attention in public.
She tells me sometimes that I'm hyper-aware and that it's a bad thing. I am rather proud of my hyper-awareness, my ability to observe and later recount the details of a situation. I see it as useful. A silly example:
We were watching a DVD one night, volume up pretty loud. Her mother had come over to drop off something. I heard, over the movie, the car pull up (we live in an apartment complex, so that's common), I heard the door downstairs to our building open, I heard the feet on teh stairs and I heard movement outside our door. I was up and at the peephole before her mother had a chance to knock. I always know when someone is coming up the stairs. I can hear it in the bedroom. The bathroom. I *like* knowing. I hear the mailman, I know what the UPS truck's diesel engine sounds like...
I try to be constantly aware of what's going on around me.
I'm not suggesting my wife need be this hyper-aware. I just want to raise her awareness to something beyond Condition "I can't see you, go ahead and stab me in the neck and rob me."
SO I'm looking for ways to bring it up without her thinking I'm Mr. Paranoia. Also, knowing this little bit of background, is there some kind of "training" I could suggest? Unfortunately, her schedule would not allow a good self-defense course.
Your help is greatly appreciated. More than I can probably explain in a discussion forum, believe me.
------------------
-stark-
ShootersNetwork
http://www.shootersnetwork.com
Web Hosting & Design for the shooting community
First of all, apologies if you read this in other places on the 'Net. I plan to ask as many people as are willing to read to help me figure out what to do. I also apologize for the length in advance.
I just got off the phone with my wife. She's a law school student, and her school is in an uproar today because a student, a girl, is missing. Very missing. Police seem to be considering foul play, although they aren't saying specifically.
Immediately I start to think about how many times my wife goes out alone, which, since she's a very liberated, headstrong woman, is a lot. She does not carry, even those she has a CT permit. I actually prefer it that way, since she does not practice much mentally or physically for the challenges of gun ownership, much less concealed carry. She has also expressed some alarming thoughts to me at times, like she'd rather "shoot him in the leg" or "I couldn't do it, I couldn't kill someone, no matter what they were doing." I could have 293,847 cops here to tell her how damn stupid "shoot him in the leg" is, and she's still going to feel like she couldn't do it.
So, I am glad, in a way, that she doesn't carry now. She's coming around, slowly, to understanding the burning outrage of a false gun story on the news, she's coming around a bit more to the center politically (She was a radical Dem...member of the DNC, contributed to Dem parties on the local, state and fed level...no tolerance for the Libertarian view, or the Right. she sees the Left for what it is now, I think. Just as flawed as any other extreme.)...but she's still not ready to carry.
So how the hell do I get her to be more aware? To prepare for something that may never happen? She has a good pepper spray, which I plan to change for her on a regular basis to make sure it's always working and fresh. She has a cell phone, that I talked her into, but keeps it buried in that deathtrap she calls a purse. I'm going to try to talk her into carrying it clipped to pocket or belt (it's a StarTAC, so tiny she'd barely know it's there.)
The big problem is, to be honest, she's a bit scatter-brained in the awareness department. The girl is razor sharp in school. Probably top in her class right now...constantly amazing me these days with the great work she'd doing, but go ahead and ask her what color my shirt is after I leave the room, or what color the car was that has been behind her for 8 blocks...you get the idea. She walks around with blinders on. You'd need a marching band and clown shoes on to get her attention in public.
She tells me sometimes that I'm hyper-aware and that it's a bad thing. I am rather proud of my hyper-awareness, my ability to observe and later recount the details of a situation. I see it as useful. A silly example:
We were watching a DVD one night, volume up pretty loud. Her mother had come over to drop off something. I heard, over the movie, the car pull up (we live in an apartment complex, so that's common), I heard the door downstairs to our building open, I heard the feet on teh stairs and I heard movement outside our door. I was up and at the peephole before her mother had a chance to knock. I always know when someone is coming up the stairs. I can hear it in the bedroom. The bathroom. I *like* knowing. I hear the mailman, I know what the UPS truck's diesel engine sounds like...
I try to be constantly aware of what's going on around me.
I'm not suggesting my wife need be this hyper-aware. I just want to raise her awareness to something beyond Condition "I can't see you, go ahead and stab me in the neck and rob me."
SO I'm looking for ways to bring it up without her thinking I'm Mr. Paranoia. Also, knowing this little bit of background, is there some kind of "training" I could suggest? Unfortunately, her schedule would not allow a good self-defense course.
Your help is greatly appreciated. More than I can probably explain in a discussion forum, believe me.
------------------
-stark-
ShootersNetwork
http://www.shootersnetwork.com
Web Hosting & Design for the shooting community