Over at Wasted Electrons, Nate has a nice Open Letter directed at college students. You should go over and read it.
Now I have to tell, you I think I support most of his points. I know from my own experiences that campuses can be places that are out of control at times. The also are very open, whether you are a student or not it really does not matter they are public facilities that you can access on foot, bicycle or auto. Yet we send our children there trusting that campus security, or the large crowds will largely keep them safe.
My first stint at college was as a wide eyed, naive, 17 year old with an “immortality” complex. Three or four things quickly changed my thought processes. 1) I had about a one mile commute to campus with no car. I spent a lot of cold, wet, rainy nights walking back and forth between campus and the house. In doing so, I began to be aware of just how solitary that walk was and how vulnerable I could be. Even when I was biking it, the feelings were the same. 2) I blew up my knee playing hockey that year. It made getting to class a bitch until it healed but, it also made me realize that I was more mortal than I would have thought. 3) A demonstration and counter demonstration on campus turned a bit dicey. This was in 79 – 80 and involved Iran, and the hostage situation so tensions were running pretty high.
My point is that as safe as the United States is, in comparison to the rest of the world, there are still a lot of wolves here and we need to find ways to discourage the pack from attacking our flocks.
H/T to Kim DuToit