I wasn’t necessarily worried because it was broad daylight, there were a few other people around, and I had my dog with me,

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This is a really good article, Samantha.

However, I have to point out to other women readers I truth I’ve seen over 55+ years of life (regarding the above passage from your articles) which is: people often get attacked/raped/murdered in broad daylight, with people (sometimes a very large number of them) around. There doesn’t seem to be much, if any, guarantees of safety when one (namely us women) goes out in public.

The best advice for people is that given by my mom in the 70s which is: be careful; be aware of your surroundings (which means year your face away from your phones and Pay Attention), be conscious of people around you and your situation. It certainly couldn’t hurt to follow mom’s advice!