living with danger

Sadly we now live in a precarious world, where we have to expect the worse, it reminds us of how fragile we are, and how we need to make the most of what we have, because no one knows what's around the corner, there's always wars, and there will always be innocent bystanders getting hurt, maimed or killed. We do have to be on our guard at all times and face the fact that the world is not a safe place for anyone, anywhere.

I missed the duck and cover drills, I was born in 1954, but my dad and mom told us to always be aware of what was going on around us. They were not paranoid by any means but with more and more cars on the streets and towns growing with population they made sure we knew we should pay attention to our surroundings. As I grew older and life became more dangerous on a personal level my brothers trained me to look around frequently, keep track of exits, note any suspicious people that might be paying more attention to me than they should, etc. I would like to see people quit using cell phones for anything but important things. At one point the cops asked people to quit using their phones after the bombs went off and what did I see in the video but phones at nearly every ear! I think we miss a LOT of things because cell phones are glued to our heads or our eyes as we constantly text and talk. Who knows what someone might have seen and prevented if they weren't talking, texting, taking photos, playing games or doing something else on a cell phone? We need to pay attention to the world around us. That may not have prevented this crime or reduced the deaths and injuries but it might have made people react more quickly and someone might have seen something more. I guess my suggestion is to pay attention. Start living, quit phoning and texting. Nothing is so important that it can't wait until you can sit down in a quiet place and make a call and in the meantime, involve yourself in what you're doing and be observant. And like Dawnald, I fear that this will be one more excuse to infringe upon our liberties.

What I fear is that somebody in the government will use this as an excuse to take away more of our civil liberties.

The terrorist realize that we are becoming careless again and knew it was time to attack again.

This is terrible what happen at the marathon, and my heart goes out to, the families that lost loved ones, this really make you think how unsafe, our country really is how a evil person, I hope that someone got this person picture, on their cell phone.

Hi I agree with you about being aware of our surroundings, I really hope that they uncover this very soon with all the video coverage you can be sure that they will find something very soon. It is sad how the world seems to be getting more and more unsafe.

We need to find effective ways of "spotting the bad guys" and stopping the threats that are around us. I was not in the "duck and cover" drills but I do remember the cold war, and I also remember my older sister always telling me that we would be some of the first to be targeted (our city or suburb) because of the Air Force Base nearby. All the fear in the world will not protect us, but as you have stated, paying attention to what we see will be a good defense for us.

Hi savypat, We are now living in a world where such an attack could happen anywhere, anytime and it's not going to be easy to change that. We must of course do everything we can to stop such attacks from happening. It is hard to believe how much and how quickly things are changing. Blessings.