It Won't Happen To Me

One of the most interesting 5 minutes of my day sometimes happens when I'm walking from the library to my car in a pitch black street lined with refugee housing and remnants of shattered glass on the ground. The only thought going through my head is no, I won't get raped. No I won't get raped. It won't happen to me.

Unfortunately somewhere deep down in the recesses of what remains of my conscience, I don't entirely believe that. Which is why the minute I'm in my car I hit the central lock and breath a sigh of relief. Nothing about the fact that I live in Geneva, not a ghetto, or about the fact that no one has ever been raped in that area registers. Nothing. Pure human survival instinct in those few minutes.

May and I were chatting about this very same concept and she asked, 'what stops all the bad things in this world from happening to us?' Is it a defiant declaration of 'it won't happen to me'? Is humanity really that arrogant? Are you really that stupid to believe that something won't happen to you because you live in a privileged area, or you've received a better education to prepare you for difficult situations, or because you're just 'smart'?

I was thinking whether it really is merely another way humans express their unmitigated arrogance, or if sometimes 'it won't happen to me' is the adult equivalent of a 6 year old's blanky?

Another hot topic on the plate this week has been love. Josipa decided she wanted to get married with or without it just to reunite everyone. It fascinates me how one can say it won't happen to me when talking about love as easily as one can say it wont happen to me when talking about rape. Really? It won't? Are you sure? What an interesting paradox because in other terms you are basically saying: I am not good enough to expect to be loved, but I'm good enough to expect not to be raped? So on a scale of 1-10, 1 being rape-able and 10 being love-able, how good are you exactly?

The real probability of it all is that you might get raped on the front door steps of your McMansion and you might find love in places where you could have sworn you never would. Nothing protects you from the onslaught of either one. If anything 'it won't happen to me' only increases the probability that either one could.

Then why the need for a false sense of security? Is it key to our day-to-day survival? Is it what gives you courage to park your car in a shady area? Is it what gives you courage to be social with everyone you meet without fear of rejection? Or worse without fear of actually falling in love? Better yet, what will happen if we all just stop believing that IT won't happen us? Will we fall apart? Will we walk with a little more caution, interact with a little more discretion?

Are the freedoms we grant ourselves a function of personal liberty or of personal slavery to our constant reiteration of 'it won't happen to me'?

B