Crime Awareness Email to Women

[texasgirl]

This is an email I am planing on sending to friends it was inspired by the 5 women killed in Illinois. Please let me know what you think any suggestion or critiques are appreciated.
If this should be posted somewhere else please let me know.



Dear Friends
I know most emails you receive from me are just silly jokes or forwards today I am actually personally writing something. I apologize in advance if it becomes a bit long but please bear with me.

The weekend before last while getting ready for church I had the TV on listening to the news. The story that caught my attention and that I have followed for the past week was the shooting of 6 women in a department store in Tinley Park, Illinois, prior to this they had only had one murder in the last eight years. Only one of the six survived. The youngest killed was only 22, she was shopping for an outfit to wear to her new job. Another of the women was shopping for something to wear to a gathering of former college friends. I believe that the reason this particular story has grasped my attention as opposed to the other horrible tragedies that also occurred this week was how absolutely ordinary what these women were doing was. They weren’t doing any of the things we are so often warned against. They weren’t going to the ATM late at night, walking alone to their car parked at the edge of a dark, deserted parking lot. They were simply working their job or shopping on a Saturday morning at 10 am a time you would assume to be safe but tragically was not.

One of the articles I read believed the killer targeted a women’s shop to avoid a confrontation with men. In other words he wanted easy targets, he didn’t want to chance anyone fighting back and from what I read that’s what happened. These women were herded into the back of the store, bound and then shot execution style at close range.

We have always heard just do what they ask and you will be okay. In some situations this may be the best course of action but be aware that more and more we are seeing news stories showing the absolute disregard for human life criminals have. They rob a convenience store, take the money and still shoot the clerk. They carjack an automobile and still injure or kill someone who willing gives them what they want. In this case he bound and then executed his victims.

Ladies I am going to ask you to do what we have asked of some of the youth group before on different matters, decide what you will do now. It is the same, we ask them to make the decision about drugs and other thing now before they are confronted with them. I am asking you to do the same, decide what your boundaries are now before you have to use that decision regarding your personal safety. I know we cannot run a hypothetical scenario for every situation that can occur but we can be mentally prepared to make decisions if the time should ever arise. I know for many their reaction is I carry a cell phone I’ll call 911. The reality is when seconds count the police are minutes away. This is not a dig at our law enforcement but they simply cannot be everywhere at once. We have to do something during the gap.

I am not saying the boogie man is lurking around every corner but there are those given the opportunity are more than willing to do harm unto others. I am just asking you to think about what if, and look at any bad habits that would distract you from being aware what is going on around you (talking on the phone, digging in your purse, etc) and put you at greater risk and if something happens have a plan. Take a self defense course, get pepper spray (and learn how to use it), get firearms training and carry one, whatever works for you but do something. Make the decision as to at what point cooperating is no longer in your best interest and realize that avoiding “bad� places does not always keep us safe. The link below is an article on personal boundaries if you have the time read it and think about what yours are.

http://www.corneredcat.com/Mindset/boundaries.aspx

Thanks for taking the time to read this, sorry it was so long.

[LarryH]

Well said, texasgirl.

I recently heard an account of a crime that occurred a few years ago, in a Wal-Mart parking lot somewhere in east Texas, perhaps Tyler.

A young woman who had just got off work at closing time was killed, execution style, just after she opened her pickup door. The perp came up behind her, pushed her into the pickup, shot her in the head and took off in the truck.

The whole sequence was plainly visible on the parking lot security cameras. She walked out to the periphery of the lot, while the BG, who had apparently been loitering for some time, slowly followed her at a distance. When she unlocked the door, he took off running and was on her in a couple of seconds.

The narrator's chilling comment was, "He didn't need to shoot her. She didn't see him, couldn't have identified him. All he had to do was push her aside and steal her truck. He shot her because her life was INSIGNIFICANT to him."

That's the mindset many young people have grown up with today. Unlike the attitude toward "sanctity of life" that many of us learned in our childhood, many of them fit the definition of sociopath, in that no one else, in their mind, is real.

[The Annoyed Man]

texasgirl, your email really applies to all of us, not just women. I appreciate that a male assailant might find it easier to target women rather than men, but your advice to decide in advance what we would do if confronted with various situations, and then to equip ourselves accordingly is nothing short of the purest wisdom. And it applies to our spiritual walks as well as our day to day existences. Thank you for posting it.

[texasgirl]

So do y'all think it okay to send out as is? or are there any changes I should make

[The Annoyed Man]

So do y'all think it okay to send out as is? or are there any changes I should make

texasgirl, I think it is perfect as it is, but I'm also reading it from a man's perspective, so it is difficult for me to gauge how most women would react to it. But I can also tell you that, before I posted my first reply, I showed your letter to my wife, and she is in full agreement with it and did not find it jarring or overemotional. OTH, she had already decided to take her CHL class just as soon as she gets through having to drive her mom to her daily radiation therapy treatments in a few more weeks, so she's already convinced of the necessity of doing so. I suppose that the reactions you will get are going to depend a lot on the ladies who are on your mailing list. If they tend to share your other values, such as your faith, then it is probable that they will react well to it.

I say send it.

[Kalrog]

Another words he wanted easy targets,

That should be "In other words..."

[texasgirl]

Thanks for the input and the correction , I never would have caught that myself. I think most of the ones I am sending it to are somewhere in the middle realizing there are dangers but not deciding to personally be proactive about it yet (I hope that changes).

[Venus Pax]

[jpierce30]

That is an awesome letter. You did very well and as previously stated it really goes for men and women both. We should all plan ahead so we don't have to think so much under pressure.
Would you mind if I forwarded your post to all of my email contacts?
Thanks,
Jim

[texasgirl]

Would you mind if I forwarded your post to all of my email contacts?

Not at all. Thanks for thinking it's worth sending to others.

[jpierce30]

texasgirl,

I forwarded your letter to all on my contacts list.

Thanks
Jim