How many times have you watched the news - a story of a robbery, a shooting, a drug lab, arson - whatever .... and one of the locals being interviewed will say - "Things like this don't happen here!"
What does that mean exactly?
Is there a postal code for the non-crime neighborhoods? Is there a specified zone for where bad things are allowed to happen? Is that zone marked out by the lines of longitude and latitude we learned about in school? Perhaps I missed the class outlining just exactly where evil resides.
Or is it really about middle and upper class folks living in a false sense of security, believing that their affluent neighborhoods outlined in white picket fences are somehow immune from hardship? Is it that bad things only happen in the slums? That only poor folks can - or should be dealt misfortune?
Clearly nobody wants to see sirens racing down the streets of their community, and when tragedy strikes - we are in shock - because it was so close to home. The "That could have been me" thought begins to play in our minds. I get it. I've lived it. Many times. Truly, cats are not the only ones with nine live!
But I just wonder why it is that we are inclined to take it that one step further in declaring that these horrible things 'just don't happen here'. Where should they happen?
Puts me in mind of the antidote to "Why me?" being "Why not you?"
I think the day we read that Prince Harry was caught experimenting with marijuana states clearly that things indeed happen everywhere! And may I just say - that when truly horrific things do happen ... drug labs ... shootings ... serial killers .... it seems that the criminal in question typically lives in quaint little towns - where those things just never happen.
I don't recall hearing a story about the serial killer that grew up in Compton, or Regent Park ... I do, however, recall them living in St. Catherines .... Tweed ... and other little non-descript towns that nobody has ever heard of until tragedy befalls them and suddenly the entire world knows about the quaint little crime-free neighborhood.
Just sayin' ...
