A Greater Appeal

I got to thinking this morning about life several years ago when our boys were still in school. We lived in a small community to the southwest of here then, in the home where I grew up. Life was certainly different from my growing-up years in many ways. We had the Internet, cell phones, and many modern conveniences that we did not have in the 1950’s and 1960’s. But some things didn’t change.
The one thing I was thinking of that hadn’t changed between the 1960’s and the 1990’s was that we never pulled the keys from our vehicles. And we left them parked outside in the drive. We never pulled the keys when we went somewhere, unless it was to Wichita or some other “foreign” place. We never were stung with a stolen vehicle, and to my knowledge, none of our vehicles was ever bothered in any way. Now the keys are pulled religiously.
As a corollary, when we lived in western Kansas a few years ago, we never locked the front door to our house, except at night when we had retired for the night. Even if we left town for a week or more, we wouldn’t lock the front door. And as far as I know, that was never a problem. Now, we keep the doors locked even in the daytime, whether we are home or not. And we live in a “safe” neighborhood in the Wichita area.
So what makes the difference? Is it that as we grow older, we grow more cautious? Is it the environment? Do larger cities mean more danger? Maybe it’s because we have more invested in our vehicles and homes than we used to have. Or maybe it’s because we don’t know our neighbors like we used to. Or is there something else at work here? I don’t really know the answer to that, but suspect it has something to do with all of the above.
Is it better? Well, in many ways it is. There is an element of risk in leaving something unlocked, whether in a small or large town, whether in the 1950’s or the 2000’s. There is an inherent safety factor that’s at play here. But in other ways, it’s a little sad that it has to come to this. It’s sad that I have to mentally note whether I’ve locked a door or not and check it to be sure. It’s unsettling to think that I feel like I have to have a loaded weapon at the ready in my home. It’s unnerving to know that not everyone who comes to the door will be coming for an innocent purpose. And although it was unthinkable some years ago, with the new concealed carry laws on the books, I’ve told more than one person who has visited with me about the subject, “If I had a concealed carry permit and a weapon on me, I wouldn’t tell you.”
I know that this blog may be troubling to some, especially for those who know this Mennonite boy who wants nothing more than to live at peace with everyone. It’s unsettling to know that I have even thought such things, let alone have written them. But that’s the world we seem to live in. And it only makes the new heavens and the new earth even more appealing.