23.) It's Easy To Avoid Crime - If You Keep Your Senses

I, like many people, moved here to the city with plenty of warnings about the high crime rate.  I thought it was funny, since I moved here over a year ago from Los Angeles County, which, last I checked, wasn’t shirking in home-grown thievery and death.

Look, it’s a big city.  You will have friends who get mugged, or have things stolen from them. You may even end up a victim of crime.  But here’s how to avoid as much of it as you can.  Here’s my one big tip for anyone- tourist or new citizen to this island:

Keep your senses.

What does that mean?  Along with the five basic ones, I also mean common sense.  If it’s late at night, and you’re waiting for a subway car, and you’re all by yourself, walk over to where there’s more people.  Don’t explore neighborhoods you don’t know by yourself at night.  Don’t wear headphones above ground – take them off immediately after getting off the subway.  Your white little buds are just a calling card for people who want to snatch Iphones or mug you.  And, you being distracted by music doesn’t help. 

Lastly, keeping your senses deals with the cold, hard fact that this is a very public city. Unless you are in your apartment cowering under the covers with the shades drawn, in the dark, you can not hide. This means, if you or your friends are angry, sad, drunk – any garden variety of strong emotion, protect yourself so you’re not targeted for crime.  And, on the flip side, use your senses to determine who around you is having very strong emotions so you know if you need to step out of the way or choose another subway car.

By Jara Michael Jones