Ding Dong Ditching

^It’s something that pretty much every kid does at some point while growing up in a suburban neighborhood. Strolling around with some friends, feeling like the next big thing in the world…oh hey, there’s a house that looks like someone’s home! Let’s ring the doorbell and, 1: Run away as fast as possible, or 2: Hide in the bushes beside the front door! And yes, it can be funny when someone comes to door and peers out of the door with a confused, yet apprehensive look on his or her face.

These days, though, people in general have a more heightened sense of security. The meaning of home security is evolving with daily reports of break-ins, robberies, vandalisms, and the whole shebang of suburban, middle-class issues. Most of the time, when someone who is up to no good is driving around a neighborhood, he or she will target a house where it seems there will be no push-back from anyone. So, in order to see if anyone is home, he or she will ring the doorbell. This is what happened when a stranger rang my doorbell, and no one was home. So they went ahead and broke through the garage window.

So what if you’re a kid wandering around and trying to be funny by ringing the doorbell of someone who is already wary of ANYONE who rings their doorbell? Technically, it’s trespassing. So they got you there. But also, what if they have some sort of system that catches you in the act and/or if they reflexively act against you? What if you’re hiding in the bushes and they come out with a weapon of some sort and start whacking behind the bushes to defend their home? These days, you just never know who you could be messing with. Plus, if you think about being on the other end of a ding-dong-ditch, you’ve had to get your butt off the couch and walk all the way to the door to find no one there? There is nothing funny about that, I think! Plus, it really could mess with your mind – especially when most people’s minds naturally go to the worst case scenario. I know mine tends to do that these days……

Toodlez!

RY