Sometimes the world we imagine ourselves is totally different from that which exists. It is very easy to imagine that you're safe in today's NYC, even though many types of crimes are on the rise. And it's very easy to be scared by media-sensationalized crimes or those that have some connection to places you frequent.

And recently, two places that Suz & I go lot were the place of two tragedies. There was the biker killed by a truck on 5th ave in the Slope and the early-morning rape on the G train last week.

Both make me mad in the sense that they were easily preventable and that the victims were people who followed the rules (the biker was on a city-recommended route and the subway rider was running to the token booth). I don't want to be selfish and personalize these tragedies, but it makes me feel a little less secure to read about them.

Perhaps the worst aspect is that there is an immediate political response when the media does a "major" public safety story to say that all of the systems set up to protect people worked b/c it's an election year. But I digress.

It can all be randomly taken away from you, but being overworked up about that possibility will make life difficult. So walk the middle path. Be careful, but not neurotic.