Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region V was located in downtown Chicago and I would take the train into town when there were meetings there. Rain, cold, and sunshine.
One of the things to do on a train of course is to look out the windows at the towns as they whiz by. I would catch the train in Lake Forest and one of the towns along the way was Highland Park. Lake Forest and Highland Park are both well-to-do towns. Highland Park has a population of around 30,000.
Think about all the small-town Fourth of July parades held around our nation. This was just one of thousands held that day.
Sure, there were police present, more for traffic control than crowd control and certainly not in case there was an active shooter incident.
Grocery stores, churches, movie theaters, schools, subway trains and parades are all places that no longer seem as safe as they once were.
Everyone everywhere is now being sensitized to what might happen. This will lead to better planning and perhaps more security when and where there is a special event. But, the common places where we shop, worship, commute and watch a movie will never be as safe as we once thought they were. People will be paying more attention to where the exit signs are.
It is called a loss of innocence. Does anyone, anywhere, still leave their home doors unlocked like my family did when growing up in small-town America?
