[LEAKYSEALS951]

I quit watching news shortly after 9/11.

I remember right after 9/11 sitting in a gas station, next to a tanker refueling the station, thinking how easy it would be for a person with the wrong motivation to plow into the tanker, taking out the entire station, and me along with it.

It made me think- we live in an open society, and there is no way to keep it 100% open and safe at the same time.



Another story about how thing can get out of hand quick:

I remember standing in a grocery store line one bright early morning. A person at the back of the line knocked over one of those display stands stacked full of "impulse buy" items.

At the time, my immediate thought was "wow, that sucks, glad that didn't happen to me" as I had brushed against it myself and almost knocked it over seconds earlier.

The guy who knocked the stand over happened to be black. Some white guy standing directly behind me looked to me and loudly exclaimed "F#$'n N#$$r" as if I was his best friend.

We were the only two white people in the store at the time. Everyone around us was black, they stopped, and glared at us. Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

To say I was pissed off at this white guy would be an understatement. What a moron. Worse, how was I to explain to an entire crowd I had nothing to do with the situation.

I still don't know quite how I got out of there unscathed, but things can really escalate quickly.

Life is tough. Wear a helmet.