Millions of Boy Scouts Have it Wrong???

A lot of people (who should know better) accuse me of being paranoid because I'll sit in a restaurant facing the door, kick a wedge under a hotel door, and use the stall in the bathroom instead of the urinal etc. These same folks all wear their seat belts when they drive however, which just proves that hypocrisy is alive and well in the good old US of A.

Why is putting on a seat belt to protect oneself in the unlikely event of an accident any different than kicking a wedge under a hotel door in the unlikely event of someone trying to break into the room? Why is it any different than popping into the stall instead of using the urinal in the unlikely event of a mugging or assault in the bathroom?

Let's look at the word paranoia. According to the dictionary, it's most commonly a baseless fear of others and I'm not afraid. If I was, I'd be home hiding under the bed. Next, my concerns are not baseless as you've only got to watch the local news or read the paper (Or work as a bouncer, bodyguard or military police officer for instance) to learn about the amount of assaults that take place on innocent members of the public every day.

So either the seat belt user is also paranoid or we're both simply prepared...only I'm prepared for more things than they are.

That's the other thing that I don't get. It's not like taking those precautions take a significant amount of time. How long does it take to take the chair facing the door instead of the other one? How long does it take to walk into the stall instead of standing in the open? How long does it take to kick the wedge under the door of the hotel room? All of them take about the same amount of time it takes to put on a seat belt I reckon and, if you practice them for twenty-one days, just like the seat belt, they become second nature.

The Boy Scouts have it right...BE PREPARED

Nick