On Locks On Doors

I wonder how often it's ever mattered, for any of us, that a door is locked.  It's an ugly thought - have people turned or tried to turn doorknobs in the hope that perhaps we weren't careful?   Have we ever been close to someone breaking into our homes when we're out or sleeping or even awake?  How much protection have our locks really provided to us?

I believe in locking doors and I do so during the day, at night and when we go out.  We have an alarm too.  I am rather aghast when I see people on the news who say, after some crime has been committed, that they will start locking their doors.  Had it never occurred to them that this might be a good idea?  And I don't think it matters if it's in a big city, medium-sized city or small town.  People aren't uniformly good or bad in any environment.

There are people around with different moral compasses.  Neighbours had a garage sale and something was stolen.  Somebody broken into another neighbour's house while I sat in the living room, on the phone to my brother, and looked out the window at that house.  A senior lady was beaten up in the parking lot of the mall near my home.  Sadly, not everyone has good intentions.  We need to be vigilant, watching out for ourselves and others.

I guess we can't know how often our locks protect us.  Perhaps they only offer a very small degree of safety.  On police shows, it always appears really easy to break in a door.  It does cause more commotion than opening an unlocked door though.  We don't have to make it easy.

I firmly believe in locking doors and I will continue to lock ours.  I'm aware, though, that we can only ever be so safe, so secure.  We live with that reality everywhere, every day, even in our homes.  It doesn't have to paralyze us with fear; perhaps it can help us to be somewhat cautious and to realize how precarious and how precious our lives really are.

JAHD