A personal reflection set on violence and danger: I’ve had three people tell me I need to worry about theft at my storefront. One has been the victim of violent crime; the other two haven’t. All three own firearms for personal protection. I offer this eastern parable:
There was once a little boy who had a beautiful set of marbles. His friend, a little girl, had a bag of candy. When the boy had tired of playing with the marbles, he offered to trade the girl all his marbles for all her candy. Just before the trade was to be made, the boy looked over his marbles and selected his two favorites. He slipped them into his pocket, his agreement notwithstanding. Later that night, he lay awake. One thought burned its way through his mind: I wonder if she gave me all of the candy?
I offer this only as a possibility, and I’m open to refutation: Is it possible that it’s not what others are willing to do that drives our fears, but what we ourselves are willing to do? Is this why perfect love drives out all fears?
* I offer these only as thoughts, and I temper them with some modicum of hubris. The other night, I was faced with a drug-addicted friend of the former residents of my house. He wanted to know how many people were living at my house and offered with a smile that he already knew the layout of the inside of my dwelling. I didn’t sleep for several hours that night, worrying about the guy on the bicycle who stopped by that evening. I didn’t sleep until God gave me this verse from Psalm 121: “He who watches over Israel will neither sleep nor slumber.”
Andrew: Although I do not believe that you should go right out and buy a gun to protect yourself – it is my hope that you are doing everything possible to keep temptation away from those who might harm you, such as not putting expensive cameras on display, adequate locks on all the doors – you know the drill!!! i don’t know that anything would make a difference if someone was determined to do harm or damage, but fore sight is better than hind sight. In the meantime, our prayers will include the protection from harm to our children and grand children. Love you. Mitzi
Thanks, Grandma. I do, in fact, employ locks and other control mechanisms, including a very large amount of business insurance. (Enough to replace my gear about 80 times.) My cameras and other gear are in the back, behind locked doors and out of sight. But I don’t lay awake at night worrying about security. Interestingly enough, though, I have a darkroom enlarger worth about $1500 on display in my front window. It’s a tribute to the old traditions of photography. But I don’t think anyone would steal it from my window. If they did, they’d have a hard time getting rid of it. Unless they’re old-school artist thieves, in which case they may use it to construct their own dark room. If they did that, I’d worry about more then them stealing my gear; I’d worry about them stealing my customers! 🙂
You’re cool.