My husband and I were in a small-town upstate New York bar (sorry, can't
remember the town) talking to a couple from New York City. We told them
we had earlier that summer been in Prague (where our son lived at the
time). Their response: isn't that dangerous? It seems to me that
Americans have no idea how dangerous their own country is and blithely
assume that other places are worse. You're much safer on the streets
of Prague than on the streets of New York City.
Like Paul, we don't lock our car doors in the driveway (although we did
have our car ransacked one night when we left it out on the street
unlocked). We leave windows and doors open when we go shopping. We
leave even ground floor windows open all night. Sure there is crime
here. Theft and arson and drugs and fairly frequent bar fights. A
murder once every eight or ten years.
I've been interested in the research that seems to show how much more
anxious and fearful people are who watch a lot of television news.
I've mostly given it up, myself, even though Canadian news is a little
gentler than American news (plenty of which we receive by cable even 300
miles from the border).
Ursula in North Bay
(where we've once again been robbed of the brimstone and hellfire....no,
no hailstones and lightening that they promised us...I do enjoy a good
bit of mayhem now and then...)
Eric Yost wrote:
Is that actually surprising [?]
To me, yes.
I was walking through Trianon Park in the center of Sao Paulo. It is a hundred acres of original rainforest (mata Atlantica) in the middle of the city. Left my glasses in a case on a stone bench. Walked out of the park, got in a car, was driving away, realized I lost my glasses, and went back. A young man from the Northeast was sitting next to them. He was waiting for me to come back and was guarding them until my return. I offered him a reward which he refused.
That was very surprising too, especially in a city larger than L.A.
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