.
I sit in the comfort and safety of my own home and wonder when it will be my turn. Each day, the possibility of danger seems to reach closer. I live in a neighborhood with very little police protection, there are elederly people all around me and it is a perfect place to rob and/or worse.
My bike was stolen off my porch last year and that is something that would never have happened, or so I thought, until it did. It was in the middle of the day. There are constant stories of break-ins and robberies that were unheard of in years prior. So, my point is, you can fence yourself in, but you can never fence the world out. It is not safe anywhere any longer.
Celebrities are gunned down in their own homes, despite body guards. Walking down the street can mean a bomb threat is right around the corner. And I live in what is known as a "safe" neighborhood. There are no safe neighborhoods any longer anywhere.
One of the reasons Ari and I chose where we are now is because we considered it likely to be safer than many other places, both in terms of people and the environment.
But millions of people have no choice about where or how they live.
"Time and chance happeneth to all."
Thank you for your reply Sharonna. May God have mercy on us.
Yes. But when and where is it decided and by whom the lives we will lead hartfire? Thank you for your reply and Happy Sunday! :)
I don't think it is "decided" at all. I think it all happens through biochemistry.
When a baby is conceived there is only one ovum, but there are enough sperm to populate the whole of Europe.
Only one of them gets lucky.
That means every one of us has already won Lotto - if we count life as a good thing to have won.
My parents set me on my life path -
and the degree of their influence in my conditioning still continues to astonish me
despite having come a long way from those origins.
Nothing is safe in this world. We are all mortal. You could hide in your home and a tornado could tear you from your rooted ass. Security is an illusion people use so they don't kill themselves to avoid worse events. I suggest avoiding the subject altogether. Go out and buy an ice cream and walk around in the open air. We're all gonna die.
No fate? No predestination? No handwriting on the wall? Everything is a crapshoot? Random? Unexpected? Wanton? Promiscuous? AARRGGHH! Thank you for your reply hartfire. I'm a planner. A list-maker. A fan of road 
maps. I like to know what I can depend on and whom. Today's world seems to offer that less and less to more and more of us. So terrorist attacks are due to biochemistry? Not comforting at all! :(
You assume much. For one I am a**less. A buttless wonder. My jeans have always been baggy because where a butt is supposed to be I have none. You tell me to buy an ice cream. You didn't mention sugar-free. I am pre-diabetic so I only eat sugar-free ice cream. You further assume I am oblivious to the fact that we are born, we live, we die. I am 78 and very well aware of it. So you are wrong on all counts, Perhaps the next time you are up at bat if there IS a next time you will do better. Thank you for your reply 
wl. I don't think it was lovely at all .It was snarky, sarcastic and dismissive. You can do better can't you?
Thank you for your reply Baba.
No one is completely safe regardless of where you might be. There is always a present threat either from others or from your own self.
I don't yet have much idea of who you are.
I partly agree, in the sense that the unexpected can always happen.
Also, sometimes we don't have the resources to be able to protect ourselves from things that are fairly common.
And many of us don't have a choice about where we live.
Or a chance to leave before disaster comes close.
But in many cases there is a lot we can do.
For instance, the Dalai Lama once observed, that if he had studied Chinese history more closely and had listened regularly to the news, he could have predicted China's intent to invade Tibet, and could have taken actions to prevent it through opening up trade.
Buying an icecream - well, just one doesn't hurt - but as a habit of self-comfort it's worse than the proverbial ostrich.
No, I don't believe in fate or predestination,
although I do believe in the Law of Cause and Effect.
The laws of physics and biochemistry mean that everything that is could never have been otherwise.
And yet there are some events at the quantum level which are literally random, and which do shift the course of reality. A shift of .003 degrees can make a monumental difference across time and distance.
All other events only seem random because we cannot possibly know all the variables which affect the outcome. And so in practical terms, we do live, to varying degrees, at the non-existent mercy of chance.
I've always thought it was crazy to live in areas prone to natural disasters. I find it incomprehensible that millions do. The San Andreas Fault for example.
Our thoughts, words, actions, and especially our habits have effects, often cumulative - and so what we put out will inevitably come back to haunt us. For a person who does not shy away from seeing reality as it really is, the consequences will be obvious. Some people call it Karma.
I agree with you about planning, lists, and maps - fabulous helpers.
And I would add to that list, research.
I know. Sad ain't it? Thank you for your reply RC and Happy Tuesday to thee! :)
Thank you for your reply Nelly and Happy Tuesday! :)
We are definitely very different, thee and me. You are all about science and facts and that which can be proven. I am not. As for living where danger lurks...where doesn't it? There are tsunamis that wipe out hundreds of thousands of people. There are hurricanes and floods that destroy entire towns. There are fires and tornadoes that wreak havoc. There are n'oreasters that blanket areas with snow and ice and frigid temperatures that cause death. There are diseases that kill hundred of thousands if not millions of people. I expect even in the hearlland of America where everything is flat and away from water there are facts of nature that can turn on the locals and cause death. Why do people keep building homes near the ocean when the oceans can wipe them out? Why do they build homes by rivers that regularly flood, overrun the banks and destroy their homes? The San Andreas fault is but one of thousands of faults or possibly millions. Recently I read that due to fracking the state of Oklahoma has experienced thousands of earthquakes in the last few years. Earthquakes happen everywhere all the time all over the world. You mention Karma. How scientific is that? I like to think there is universal justice. It is comforting to me. Whether the universe is meant to mete out justice I don't know. There are more things I do not know than I do. I don't shut the door on anything. Why? Because I don't know what's behind that door and what's behind that door may be the key to understanding everything. Anyway thank you for your reply hartfire and Happy Tuesday.
