Survivor Mom

The most important take-away concept of the book "The Survivors Club" by Ben Sherwood is that survivors are vigilant.  Such is the case of a New Jersey mom.  The name Amy Schmalbach probably doesn't mean anything to you.  No reason for it to, until now. 

When a census-taker knocked on her door, she says she expected the visit because she hadn't sent in her census form.  As she answered the man's questions, she had an uneasy feeling that she had seen him somewhere before.  She thought she knew where.  She asked him to step back so she could close and lock her door and then went to her computer.  She pulled up the New Jersey sex offender website.  There was a photo of the man at her door.  She called 911 and the man was arrested.

This man had all the correct government credentials for is job.  He had gotten them, however, under an assumed name.  Her vigilance in checking the list stopped this man who had been convicted of exposure and child endangerment.  She may have saved her child.  She certainly saved someone's.

We should all follow Amy's example.  Check the list.  Whether we're parents or not, we know children who need protection.  We teach them to respect authority, but these days recognizing true authority isn't easy.  The evening news is peppered with stories of fake policemen, fake firemen, fake utility workers all using official looking credentials to rob, assault and rape.  Making ourselves familiar with details can help to prevent us from becoming victims.

While cellphones can be very helpful in cases of emergency.  Misuse can also cause the emergencies. Every day I see people walking the sidewalks of New York while pushing strollers and talking on cellphones.  I have seem some that were so involved in their phone conversations that they didn't notice the traffic light had changed. 

Even without a cellphone, people can be dangerously distracted if they don't practise awareness.  At a grocery store a mother picked up her child and swung him around, nearly hitting me.  I had noticed her and was able to stop in time.  I could have just as easily been watching her and used the collision as an opportunity to snatch the toddler from her arms and jump into a car waiting at the curb outside.  When I suggesting being more careful, she snarled back, "You be more careful!"  I replied that I was and that I'm not the one with a child.  She told me I was rude.  She had no idea the tradgedy she might have had.

I try to be aware and anticipate the actions of others around me.  "Defensive Walking" is just as important as Defensive Diving.  Today, Amy has taught us a new lesson in vigilance.  Find the sex offender website  for your state (for NYC, there would be at least three state websites to check: NY, NJ, CT) and check it periodically.  It just might save a child, a neighbor, a co-worker or friend from abuse, rape, or even death.  This is certainly a lesson in living a legendary life.  Thank you, Amy!