While travelling in America with a friend, we decided to visit Los Angeles. We took a Greyhound bus from San Diego and on arrival in Los Angeles the plan was to be picked up by mini-van and taken to the accommodation where we would be staying.
The mini-van was unavailable and we were advised by a local to walk to a bus stop a couple of blocks away and catch another bus. As we walked out of the Greyhound station an LAPD police car pulled up in front of us and two huge policemen jumped out and asked us where we were going - it was like something out of a Hollywood movie! The policemen were horrified that we were going to be walking around in a dangerous area and they told us that my friend, being a white male, would have made it only half a block before being murdered and that I would have made it one block before being raped and then murdered! They were totally serious. The policemen kindly drove us in their patrol car across town to a safer area to catch our bus. We finally arrived safely at our destination, but I was very shaken by the experience.
The lesson I learnt is that we are ultimately responsible for our own safety. It is up to us to make sure of this and not put all our trust in other people or we may find ourselves in trouble. We must know where we are and what we are about –We can never be complacent about our personal safety.