My mind wasn't particularly open to the idea that I could be a victim (in spite of living amidst Columbine/school shootings, 9/11, and multiple tramautic experiences after coming out of the closet) until something truly bad happened to me -- I was robbed at gunpoint outside a BART station in San Francisco. I was with my girlfriend at the time, and whether it was or not, it read like a true hate crime. I didn't call the police until the next morning, after we both had time to collect ourselves. In retrospect, I see that it would've been better for everyone to call the police right away, but I was so traumatized I wasn't thinking about that. And, once we filed the report nothing meaningful happened to the perpetrators that I was aware of.

Since then, I have been on high alert to the bad stuff happening around me every single day. I'm getting help, and I'm lucky to be able to afford it, but I probably won't ever be the same. One thing I can't afford is doubting my instincts -- I have learned that doing so will get me burned.

This part of the excerpt struck me: "We don't need to learn about violence, many feel, because the police will handle it, the criminal-justice system will handle it, experts will handle it. Though it touches us all and belongs to us all, and though we each have something profound to contribute to the solution, we have left this critical inquiry to people who tell us that violence cannot be predicted, that risk is a game of odds, and that anxiety is an unavoidable part of life."