This morning as I kicked back in my easy chair, sipping my cup of hot morning java, I reached for the remote and turned on the news. The news anchor was telling the tragic story of the murders committed by Gary Michael Hilton. (That is, the murders that he's confessed to so far.) It was a female hiker who was hiking alone in the woods where she was victimized by a savage stranger who had lain in waiting for his next unsuspecting prey.
I experienced the same shock, horror and anger that always shoots through my body when I hear this sort of news report. But there was something different today that accompanied those emotions. I experienced an intense emotion of frustration over the naivete' of the general public where their own God-given right to a safe life is concerned.
I immediately arose out of my easy chair and went to my computer. I googled this predator's name and was led to several news articles about his crimes. I ran across an opinion comment section in one or two of them and sat here writing advice to the few members of the general public who will access my comments. I then decided to write this blog as well.
I had a friend with whom I once went camping in the mountains. (He's an avid bow-hunter who hunts elk every year in the mountains.) It was my first camping experience. When I expressed a fear of bears, he responded, "The only animal you need to fear are two-legged." (He reminded me that I would be more likely to see a ghost, than a bear.) Sure enough, eight days later, no bears. I'd had no idea how true his words were until I later worked for nine years as a therapist in the correctional system.
Nine years into my career I was considerably wiser (as well as considerably less naive'.) I find it very sad that the public really has no idea the high number of dangerous individuals with whom they may even rub elbows each day. The truth is that if the public were openly informed, most people wouldn't want to go out of their homes at all.
The fact that people believe they can safely go hiking or running alone in the woods anywhere is always surprising to me and also very sad. It's not that isolated locations are all dangerous, it's that the only assurance of safety in isolated areas is having others along with you when there! It IS true that there is safety in numbers!
It is especially imperative that we make our young children be aware that 1) there ARE people in the world who are BAD, 2) bad people look exactly like everybody else, (unlike most children imagine, bad people do not wear a sign of some kind that makes them identifiable); 3) Tell your children, "If someone wants to be alone with you who your parents haven't given permission to be alone with you, you must immediately leave the situation (and seek an adult's assistance without delay!); 4) always trust your insides: if you get an uneasy feeling about ANYBODY - get away from that person IMMEDIATELY!
No matter what age group you're in, if that small voice in the back of your mind should ever question that you'll be safe in a given area (and you SHOULD whenever you are about to go anywhere alone) ask yourself "Is it an area where if I were up to something bad, might I be able to get away with it without being SEEN by others?" If the answer is "yes" don't go there by yourself!
Whether or not you choose to believe it, there really DO exist real-life Hannibal Lectors (from 'Silence of the Lambs' fame) in the world! (Unlike the recently murdered hiker believed, that predator can just as easily be in YOUR area as in anybody else's!)
Please don't misunderstand, I'm not recommending that anyone be paranoid, but be smart . . . be MINDFUL and be CAUTIOUS!
(A short time after the above words were printed, I was contacted by one of the victim's parents who informed me that one of this predator's victims was not alone, but was with another person and both were extremely physically fit. The family member who contacted me mentioned that Mr. Hilton had the help of his dog named, "Dandy" and had been let-off by the court system for an arson he'd committed ten years earlier in which human beings had perished. This family member emphasized the fact that had this predator been punished to the full extent of the law ten years before, his loved one would be alive today.)
