Treat me Like...
Lord, my emotions have been all over the place lately. Joy, pain, hurt, love, happy, sad as well as fearful and anxious. Holiday time is always hard for me but, my anxiety has been the worst as of late. So often I’m reading and hearing stories about abductions, almost kidnappings, actual abductions and so on. I’ ve learned that these are triggers for me. Yet, I continue to plug in to every story I hear or read. My mind tells me that I'm reading to help myself if ever I’m placed in one of those situations, but after my mind is all over the place. It seems as if my worst nightmares are getting closer and closer to reality. What happened to the days when stories of kidnapping were long away from home. Now everywhere I look I’m afraid. I have always been a cautious person, but the way society is set up, my anxiety has been heightened and I don't like it here.
Not only has social media triggered my anxiety, but so has real life events. About two weeks ago, I had my first real encounter with the infamous “white van.” I was with my son at football practice and grew a little tired. Rather than sit in the cold on the bleachers, I decided to sit in my warm car and wait for my son to finish. As my daughter and I walked to the car this uneasy feeling fell upon me. Despite the uneasiness I still walked to the car. Soon as I reached my vehicle a white van with black tinted windows all around it excluding the windshield pulled up beside me. On a regular day I probably hadn’t been worried , but everything about this screamed DANGER! I quickly put my daughter in the car, hopped in myself and locked the door. I was so terrified. I continuously looked and looked to see what the driver of that white van would do. What stood out to me was that he didn’t park in a designated parking spot. It’s like he saw me and just stopped. He pulled up in a no parking area right alongside me. Despite my fear, I stayed alert. I prayed a whole lot too. Ten minutes passed and no one got out of the van. A parent from the football team ended up walking to his car which was parked close to mine and the van immediately drove off…
All types of thoughts crowded my head that night. I imagined every senario possible and in every single one I wasn't ’t the victorious one. Anxiety overcame me and left me in tears. I couldn’t stop crying about what could have happened. I think it was worse because my daughter was with me. The worse fear I have as a parent is not being able to protect my children.
Early this week I took my kids to the doctor. As we were leaving I spotted this strange black van parked next to my car. My heart began to beat extremely fast and my parent intuition kicked in immediately. I refused to open my car door and subject my children to any danger. As I got closer to my car I realized no one was in the driver seat of the van, but then I saw a man walking to the van. He didn’t look weird, but most abductors don’t. The man got in his van and pulled out his phone. Then he just sat there. STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER! Alarmed inside my head. I walked into nearest public place for safety, which was a State Farm insurance business. I told the lady working the front desk that I didn’t want to get in my vehicle because of everything I’ve been seeing in the news and didn’t trust the van parked next to me. Sensing the fear I thought I was hiding she allowed us to stay. The description of the van was all black. But, what made it so weird was it was spray painted black. The windows were covered with plywood also painted black and it had black curtains in the back. After the van left I hurried to my car , locked my kids and myself in safely and took a deep sigh of relief. Something was still off and all those crazy thoughts from a few weeks ago returned instantly.
I’ve tried unplugging from all the scary stories on social media, but I also want to be preparded for whatever may happen. These events have truly frightened me and just made me all the more anxious. Ladies there is a war going on out here and us and our children are the targets. Please be careful and stay alert. Do whatever you have to do to protect yourself. It's such a scary world we live in and as much as we want to believe things will never happen to us, we must be prepared for whatever! The bible tells us “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6. I’m working on this and praying that I never have to really react. Along with prayer, I’ve learned some tips to help me when danger presents itself.
Kick predator in the genitals. (Male or Female)
Make yourself vomit, defecate or urinate.
Carry a weapon.
Always keep your phone charged.
Yell or scream.
These are only a few tips to help you stay safe. Please be careful when you are out. Men all we want is for you to treat us like you would want someone to treat your daughter! Instead we are living our lives on look out in fear of being the next victim. Stay safe out there ladies!
Can you add any tips to stay safe in these awful times?
