Makes Me Wanna Holla

This is a public service announcement of sorts because of a recent incident that has me a bit rattled.  Busy people, please be careful out there!

This morning I discovered that someone had gone into one of our cars, rifled through the glove compartment and the arm rest, stolen the meter change and a cosmetic bag full of toiletries--all because I forgot to lock my door.  I last drove this car this past weekend from a quick trip to visit the New York relatives, and because we got back so late, the husband and I intended to unpack the remaining things the following morning.  Well, as good intentions go, we never got around to doing that and apparently, I forgot to activate the alarm.

I am kicking myself because this is something that I do a lot (leaving the car unlocked in front of the house).  But because I live in a quiet neighborhood with older neighbors who watch every move anyone makes, I never gave my occasional negligence a second thought.  Until now...

Just half an hour before I discovered this morning's jolt of reality, I had been reading in the paper about how an elderly man who was just walking his dog got stabbed by a couple of teenagers who were looking to rob him.  And this was just after the husband had shared a story he heard on the radio about a sociopath who killed several people and is now on death row. 

I am not going to ask what the world is coming to because this type of craziness is all around us.  No one is immune from crime.  I am angry about what happened to me because I know that I should have been more careful...but people also should not steal.  People should not be killed over dumb stuff.  I should not have to fear for my life or have to worry about crackhead thieves who pull on car handles in the middle of the night. 

So this is just a warning to urge you to pay attention to your surroundings.  Busy people are often distracted, which means that we miss things.  I have not exactly been too busy to remember to clear out my car, but I just didn't think about it, and I certainly did not realize that my car had been unlocked for several days.  So please just try to be more aware of the things that you might tend to forget...OK that didn't make sense the way I worded it and quite honestly, I cannot figure out how to re-word it except to emphasize again, be more observant!

(Please forgive me for rambling...)