small town safety

Isn't it nice to be able to walk around downtown after dark? That's what I thinking to myself them other night when I decided to walk home from town instead of driving. My wife had the car, we don't have cellphones, and I opted not to waste a dollar at a payphone. We live pretty close to town. Some of the streets were pretty dark, but I felt safe enough. I just had to make sure that approaching cars could see me. But the truth is that when I was a kid I would have *never* done this. Why? Because I grew up in New Orleans and the part of town that I lived in was pretty scary. So scary that I was too afraid to ride my bike outside, for fear of being jumped. That may sound totally irrational, but after getting jumped for my skateboard, I just couldn't help myself. My bicycle sure looked nice in the garage, though.

I've lived in a number of cities throughout my lifetime, and even the ones that seemed pretty "safe" could turn on you in an instant. I guess it isn't the city's fault, as there are bad people everywhere, right? But I at least know that when I'm riding the public transit in my town that I won't be approached by some thug trying to sell me stolen womens gold watches (true story). And I know that I can walk down an alley without having to look over my back every thirty seconds. AND...I feel comfortable going downtown without arming myself. Where I grew up, everybody carried handguns. It was like The Old West, but with racism and paved streets.

Here in small town USA, it is safe and quiet. We know most of the people in town and they know our family. Aside from the occasional repeat domestic violence case reported in the newspaper, crime is virtually non-existent. In big cities, there's always some gruesome crime case on the front page of the newspaper. Here, you'll see a big headline about a local hotel getting a new elevator, or on rare occasions, a canine may curiously make it onto the front page as citizen of the week. It's so nice when your "big" stories are only this big.

These are just some of the joys of living in a smaller town. I highly recommend it, and can't see myself ever living in the city again.