Sometimes You Can Only Hope

We had a zany, older gal contact us for some information regarding a self defense product. She felt that she was being “tailed” or “shadowed” by some ne’er -do-well. Her primary concern was that “no one would get hurt”. Hmm, what was I going to recommend to this lady to deter a criminal and not cause any physical pain or harm to occur in doing so?

We discussed pepper spray but she was afraid to use that since it might be affected by the wind and spray her or her friend (even though we have gel and foam formulas with no-cross contamination). She never let me finish my discussion on either a stun gun (cruel and inhumane), or a short telescopic baton (too brutal and too hard to operate).

I was getting a little frustrated at my loss of time with her but kept things polite. Finally she asked about our personal alarms and after much discussion decided that she would talk to her husband and decide if these would be a viable alternative to the other deterrents we’d discussed.

Maybe a month passed and with it, my memory of this lady along with her many concerns and fears. Lo and behold – a check arrived in the mail one day from this lady, requesting two of our best personal alarms with a flashing light feature. I laughed a bit thinking of our phone conversation as I sent them to her and life went on until yesterday.

Several months after all of this had transpired, the FedEx man was beating on the door and my Rottie was getting ready to open it for him! She hates men in uniform (odd for a female huh?). I accepted the small box and opened it – not knowing what it contained. Guess what? It was the two personal alarms from my old pal, along with a note from her husband that she had to send them back because they were too loud and she was afraid after testing one – that it might damage a person’s hearing. It “affected her entire body so strongly at a visceral level” (her words) that they scared her from using them. ARRRGHHH! This was a nutty and unexpected surprise. This lady was so afraid of being hurt that she felt that a deterrent device was needed, but so paralyzed by her fear of “hurt” – that it extended beyond herself to thieves, rapists, killers – you name it?!!

I am looking at the box with a sarcastic smile as I type this post – unbelievable eh? I suppose that fear freezes some folks up completely and others are galvanized into instantaneous action – and survive! I wish her well always – possessing so much love – may a hair on her head never be harmed.