I can still remember the warnings given by the RA’s during frosh week:”Don’t walk around on the waterfront at night”, “Stay away from the Commons after dark”, and other wisdom on how to stay safe in the city of Halifax. And being the stupid cocky teenager that I was, I ignored the warnings. Still, after 10 years of 3 AM strolls home from the bars (usually across the Commons), I’ve never been attacked.
I don’t mean to place blame on any of the victims of the swarmings and violence during recent years, but I think that people need to take some responsibility for their own safety as well. For example, I’ve never understood how someone could allow him or herself to be attacked at the Commons. In such a wide open place, how can you not be aware of a group approaching you with violent intent? There is enough awareness of the danger now that people should know better than to try and walk through a group of thuggish looking teenagers.
By Jared Moore
This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2007.
