At home in Fort Worth...
Arriving home from work a couple of weeks ago, I turned the
key in the front door and found it was unlocked. This was highly unusual, as I knew Sandy was
gone and that she is a stickler for locking all the doors and setting the
burglar alarm. However, thinking this
was one of those rare omissions on her part, I opened the door, only to hear
the unmistakable beeping sequence from the burglar alarm indicating that
it had been tripped. If I had had my
wits about me, I should have gone outside immediately and called the police,
for I didn’t know at the time if some unwanted person was still in the house. Obviously, I hadn’t accepted what the alarm
was telling me, for I simply walked over to the keypad, entered the code and
shut off the urgent beeping. It was when I walked into the den and saw the back
door ajar with remnants of the door latch strewn across the floor that I began to realize what had happened.
Stupidly, I still didn’t leave the house, even though the intruders
could still have been in another room waiting for me. Instead, I calmly began to look around to see
what was missing. I noticed that none of
the electronic gear or computers had been taken and that a new pistol in its
case was still on my desk in the study.
Walking into the master suite, I noticed that the drawers in Sandy’s
jewelry case were strewn about the floor, all empty. It was only then that I called 911, wondering
why the police had not already arrived after the alarm was tripped. I later learned that, while the alarm system
activated the interior siren upon the break-in, the system failed to contact
the alarm monitoring center. The company
immediately sent out a technician who replaced the controller that had malfunctioned. This revealed another mistake: I had not tested the alarm in
a very long time. It was probably
because the siren was sounding that the thief (or thieves) went only for the
jewelry and didn’t look for other valuables. I’m told a burglar knows that he has about
six minutes on average before a police response to the location is likely.
While waiting for the police, I called Sandy, who was en route
home herself, and told her what had happened so that she wouldn’t be alarmed to
see a police cruiser in front of the house when she arrived. She was mortified, of course, over having our
security violated and the loss of jewelry worth many thousands of dollars,
almost all of which I had given her on special occasions over the past 36
years. It was not until we began taking
an inventory of the pieces that were missing and assessing the replacement
value that we realized how imprudent we were for not having nearly enough
insurance for this kind of loss.
After moving through several stages of shock, anger and
grief, we realized that it was just stuff, after all, and that we were not
harmed was what was important. What will
never be the same is a sense of security. We now realize how vulnerable most of us are, considering how
easy it was for a thief to gain entrance with one kick to the rear door. It was all the more shocking because no one
in our neighborhood could recall any trouble of this kind for many years.
We installed a new, stronger door, of course, along with a
barrier bar, and we upgraded the security system with an outside siren. We also installed cameras on all sides of the
house and at the entrances with a digital interface for the images to be visible
from our smart phones. I’m not sure what
will be gained from this, other than having the capability of watching a break-in in
real time, but maybe it will provide some kind of deterrent and perhaps help in
identifying criminals if, God forbid, something like this happens again.
Even as I am
writing this, it is difficult to accept that our culture has come to this. Growing up in the fifties in a small town in
east Texas, we had no concept of crime.
Our doors were never locked, our parents often left the car keys in the ignition when parked,
and my friends and I roamed the neighborhoods at will with no fear of any evil
befalling us. The answer is fairly
simple, however. Considering the degree
to which God has been pushed out of our institutions and our lives, it is no
surprise that ungodly things take His place.
I am very fearful for our children and grandchildren.
I read the blogs of many fulltimers out there who have
jettisoned their S&B houses and don’t have to worry about criminal mischief
at their residences while they are gone.
I envy that freedom, but I’m thinking now that we’re not really safe
anywhere these days. I suppose that feeling will lessen over time, but I really miss the days of my youth.
