Careful who you trust

My mother called me a while ago to see how I was doing with my new classes and such. I realize that mothers are supposed to care, but my mother is on the verge of caring too much.\n"Are you using the pepper spray I got you?" she asked.\n"No Mom, I haven't had a reason to use it yet."\n"Do you bring it with you when you walk home from the library at night?"\n"No, it's a well-lit area."\n"Stephanie…" I could hear the worry in her voice and a lecture coming on.\n"Mom, there are other people around when I walk home from the library," I said in my defense.\n"So you don't think anything could happen to you?"\n"Well, I don't want to say no now, I might jinx myself."\n"Don't you remember Jill Behrman?" my mother asked. "Don't you remember that she was kidnapped around nine o'clock in the morning, in broad daylight?"\nHer comment made me stop and think. Yes, I remember Jill Behrman. In the back of all our minds, I'm sure something is there lurking around which reminds those of us in Bloomington of Jill. Something stays with us that lets us know Bloomington may not be as safe as we all assumed it was.\n"I just don't want that to happen to you," my mother said. "You don't know who you can trust."\nYou don't know who you can trust. That phrase stuck out in my head because it is becoming more and more true. My roommate and I might trust the girls who live on the floor too much because we leave our door unlocked when neither of us is in the room. That may not be the smartest thing, but we feel that we can trust the girls on the floor. And if someone happens to lose a meal card, that person probably hopes that someone will do the right thing and turn it in, not use it for himself. \nAfter Sept. 11, many people had a hard time trusting anyone who looked suspicious, or anyone who was of Middle-Eastern ethnicity. Anyone could be a terrorist. And could we trust other countries not to do something similar to our country again, or another country? Would something similar strike again?\nJill Behrman had been riding her bike on the same bike route in the mornings for a long time. She probably didn't even think that anyone would attempt to kidnap anyone in broad daylight. She, like others in the community, probably assumed that since she was in a town where kidnappings and assaults were not daily problems, she was safe. Is that an assumption that everyone should have? That we should be safe, even in daylight? That if we do carry pepper spray, we should have it with us at all times, just to be safe?\nI guess what I'm trying to figure out is how cautious we should be these days. Should we think twice about things we normally wouldn't, like walking home in the evening, or leaving the door unlocked while talking to someone down the hall? I guess we should all be careful who to trust and hope people don't break our trust.\n"Stephanie, if Jill Behrman can get kidnapped in the daytime, I don't want to know what can happen at night. I bought you that pepper spray for a reason."\nI guess Mom's right after all. It wouldn't hurt to be cautious.\n"Okay. I'll carry it with me." I guess now I'll have to learn how to use it.