today i am thankful that i am just paranoid.

today, i lost my sense of self-preservation and spaced-out so bad that i did something really stupid. it's a good thing i'm just paranoid because the alternate scenario is something too difficult to imagine.

today, instead of getting on a bus to bring me back to the to Bacolod, I instead rode a taxi who has no business picking up passengers in my hometown. how stupid can you be right? space out girl + unknown taxi   + unknown passengers= perfect recipe for disaster.

when i arrived at the bus terminal, the taxi was parked on the side. i was about to make my way to the bus when a two men approached me and told me that the taxi is also on its way back to Bacolod and offers lower fare compared to the bus. according to them, the driver was hired by someone to drive them to my hometown and wants passengers on his way back to make it worthwhile perhaps. that's not surprising at all actually since most drivers would actually do that. what's surprising is my reaction. apparently, i just let them led me to the car and went inside and actually only realized the horror of what i did when the car was already on its way and i realized that i am in a car with four strangers. huh! that's four strangers who are bigger and most likely stronger than me.

no, i did not panic. i actually don't panic in emergency/dangerous situations. when i was in high school my classmates call me stoic, because apparently i am a stoic. anyway, i did not panic but alarms are going off in my head. i looked around trying to get the body number of the taxi which is usually printed by the side of the window. finding none, i stared intently at the ID hanging by the driver's mirror and texted the info to my friend  while crossing my finger and hoping that i'm just being paranoid.

thank God i am just paranoid. just imagine how it would be like if it turns out that i am not being paranoid and i was really in danger. as i was sitting there and lecturing myself about how stupid i am for doing such a thing, i tried to analyze the people i am with. as best as i can, i tried to gauge their strengths and my chances of escaping if necessary. i calculated that i will most likely end up dead and my chances of escaping is next to  none. so i did what most people would do, i crossed my fingers and prayed that i am wrong and i will get back to Bacolod safe.

well, i did. i'm still lucky! i assure you though, that is not going to happen again. i may not be as lucky next time.

On personal safety and self-defense

I guess everyone would agree that the world has become a really dangerous place. There is no place where you can be really sure of your safety. Sometimes, even inside your homes you can be threatened with so many kinds of danger. Fencing your homes is no longer an assurance that danger could no longer lurk in your own garden.

It is good to be able to read articles like The Bear (bare) facts about personal safety and Self-defense by Kerry Suave (posted at www.web-articles.info) which talks about, you guessed it, personal safety and self-defense.

Well, the article doesn’t really tell you how to shoot or karate-chop somebody who threatens you but it reminds you of simple yet significant things for your safety.

“The best way to protect yourself and your family is to avoid risk,” says Suave in the article. A sound advice if you would ask me. And quite self-explanatory too! To avoid danger, then we must avoid circumstances that may risk our family’s safety. If you think that the place where you are now is no longer safe for you and your family, then try looking for a new one and don’t wait for something to happen before you do something.

Suave also suggests that we should understand risks first in order for us to reduce it. By evaluating our lifestyle and our environment, we could identify what risks this lifestyle may bring us. This would therefore give us an idea and understanding on the possible dangers in our lives. By knowing firsthand, we can take proper precautions to avoid danger.

From reading Suave’s article, I realized that it does not matter that you don’t know how to deliver a flying kick, what is more important is that, you are prepared. What good is an expertise in martial arts if you don’t know what kind of danger you are about to face?

For more information on Suave’s personal safety tips, please visit this site.

(note: photo from, http://www.becomestreetwise.com/images/streetwise_book.jpg)