Be Not Afraid, But Be Aware

I don't think that people around here are exactly afraid of terrorists, but they certainly are aware of the dangers of modern life. Whenever anything strange happens, the schools all go into lockdown mode. Nobody goes in and nobody goes out until the crisis has passed. Because of our proximity to the Great Lakes, we have been advised to be on the lookout for suspicious activity around bridges and harbors. I have not heard of anything like that being reported here but if it was, I'm sure that our local law enforcement would take it seriously and be right on top of it in a matter of minutes. At least once a year, they conduct disaster drills, in which police, fire, and medical resources are mobilized. It isn't just about Islamic terrorism, sometimes the scenario is about natural disasters or industrial accidents, anything that would produce mass casualties. Local civilians are often recruited to play the victims, with make-up artists creating realistic looking injuries on them.

Since terrorists like to attack large groups of people, the most likely target around here would be the Mackinac Bridge Walk. Every Labor Day they shut down two of the four traffic lanes on the bridge and tens of thousands of people walk the entire length, about five miles, from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City. Hundreds of school busses from all around the region are used to transport the walkers to the St. Ignace side, and then they walk back. Before each run, the busses are checked out by police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs. National Guard soldiers are stationed all along the route although, for some reason, they are not armed. They each have a radio, though, so they could call for help if need be. The Coast Guard has a helicopter circling over the bridge, and several boats patrolling the waters below during the whole event. This is not fear, this is just common sense. Any time you have that many people clustered together, all sorts of bad things can happen, and it would be irresponsible to not be prepared.

I don't know what they're doing in Chicago, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that warnings are issued in crowded places like movie theaters. I doubt that the intent is to make people tremble in fear, but rather to make them take a proactive interest in their own safety and the safety of others.