Hello
  
June Clark, one of the readers of 'Your Safety Matters' sent me an email earlier today (She has given her permission for me to quote it).
  
1) *** She said... ***
  
Hi Robert
  
Thanks for your emails, I find them quite enlightening after a heavy week or so working.
  
Just thought I would let you know that I am an ardent supporter of personal safety, however, I can't seem to find anyone else (in the Joe public sector) that is!
  
With encouragement from local police etc, I stood in the street and visited lots of shops and licensed premises talking to both male and female of all ages giving out 4.5k brochures offering personal safety awareness courses.
  
The feedback from this session was very positive and most people had a story to tell! To my amazement, we had only one booking!
  
So, I embarked on a feedback session and spent about four hours asking people what they thought of the course. Most said, good idea, much needed, but wouldn't attend as they thought they were ok!
  
One 19 year old female replied "well if you get raped, you get raped! nothing I can do about it!" I was so amazed by her reply and after explaining that there is lots you can do about it, she agreed but insisted she still wouldn't attend the course.
  
Why is no-one interested in personal safety? You would think it would be of paramount importance in this day and age. Our local newspaper is full of horror stories of girls being raped, hand bag snatches, bullying, victims of violence etc.
  
Can you answer?
  
June Clarke
  
   
2) *** and I replied... ***
  
Hello June,
  
You asked why nobody is interested in personal safety...
  
As I get older and more war-weary I find myself thinking along the following lines...
  
There are three types of people: Sheep, Sheep-dogs and  Wolves.
 
The wolves are the predators they will do whatever they  want, whenever they want unless stopped.
 
The sheep spend most of their lives either unaware of the wolves or in a state of denial or in a state of panic (usually just before being injured, maimed or killed).
  
The sheep-dogs are those who are aware of the wolves and will actively try to avoid them or if necessary to defend themselves and the sheep against them. 
   
Occasionally a sheep turns into a sheep-dog, and very occasionally a sheep-dog may turn into a wolf or a wolf may turn into a sheep-dog.
  
Most sheep-dogs are lonely and wish that all the sheep they meet were sheep-dogs too. A sheep-dog can become saddened or even embittered by the helplessness and lack of enthusiasm shown by sheep. The sheep will often refuse to do even the simplest things to protect themselves from wolves.
  
The shepherds who own and manage the flocks of sheep on the whole are happy with the way things are and see no need to invest in teaching sheep how to become sheep-dogs. It's also quite probable that most
of the sheep are happy with the status quo too.
  
And if you want tragic evidence, you need look no further than the victim mentality GENERALLY displayed at the recent Virginia Tech massacre.
  
Yours,
  
Always a Sheep-dog :)
  
Robert.
  
   
3) *** So !*FIRST_NAME*! what do you think? ***
Are you a sheep, a sheep-dog or a wolf? Or do you have some other viewpoint that you can share?
  
I look forward to hearing from you
  
Till next time...
  
All the best.
  
Robert.
  
P.s.
ALL of the information in this email has to be considered with reference to the laws of your country and to any rules that apply to your working practices.
  
Contents Copyright Protectics Limited.
---
Robert Agar-Hutton, FFIATAM, FFA, MIAP, MICM.
Protectics Limited
17 Priory Gardens, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU2 7DP, England.
Tel: 01582 400111
Email: robert@protectics.co.uk
  
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