It was 10:45 PM. My wife thought she heard the doorbell ring. She thought she was dreaming. Now wide awake, she heard it again. I had my noise-cancelling headphones, so I didn’t hear anything.

I got up. Retrieved my gun and made my way slowly to the front door. Our property has a number of bright lights so it’s easy to see what’s going on outside without having to turn on our porch lights.

I made my way slowly to the door. There was a young woman sitting on our front porch mat with her back to the door. She had her knees pulled up to her chest.

The temptation is to open the door since she seemed distressed. As I got close to the door, I could hear her sobbing.

Was she bait? Was there someone waiting out of my sight line? I didn’t know, and I did not want to know the hard way by opening the door and being rushed by some guy with a knife or gun.

We don’t live in a dangerous neighborhood. The police and fire station are on the corner less than a mile away.

There was a fatal driving accident on the road some years back. It was alcohol related. There are no street lights. Depending on the brightness of the Moon, it can be very dark in the evening. Because of the trees and the absence of moon light, you’ll need a flashlight to cross the street.

I woke up one Saturday morning and found a car parked precariously on the lower portion of our property. The car had to have been airborne to land where it did. The guy must have had a rough night.

Last night was different. We’ve never had anything like this happen to us. So I called 911. I matter-of-factly explained what I knew by giving a description of the young woman and her condition as best I could.

We are living in uncertain times. I noted how long it took for the police to arrive. It was about five minutes. Two police cars pulled in our driveway with lights on but no sirens.

What was going through their minds? An ambush? Was I a nut mad at the police and attempting to get even? Was the woman armed? Did she have an accomplice? Unknowns like these go through the mind of every police officer. Most handle the situation well.

By the time the police officers arrived, the young woman was no longer on our front porch. I briefly spoke to one of the officers and answered a few questions. I said that I wanted to help the woman but was very cautious and did not open the door or even let the woman know I was home or awake.

He said, “You did the right thing considering what’s been going on.” Amen to that.

The night before we had five of our grandchildren spend the night. Their mother had a seizure, fell, and hit her head. Keeping the house quiet would help her rest better. What if a more sinister scenario had developed?

The woman could not have gotten far. They began checking the property. She had left the front porch and made her way to the side of the house where it met the garage. She was afraid of something or someone.

One officer questioned her while the other officer took notes. From what I could see, she was explaining that she had been attacked.

After a few minutes, the police officers drove her to the precinct.

All that I’ve written is true. This is not a scenario I’ve concocted to make the next few points.

If the police are defunded or disbanded, who does one call? What if this had been a set up, and my wife and I had been confronted by several intruders or worse? What if Antifa-types decide to take their “message” to areas outside the cities late at night when most people are in bed?

Maybe the person this young woman was escaping from was searching for her. What if he found her and beat or killed her?

There are unintended or intended consequences of evil people doing evil things because they just want to see the world burn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efHCdKb5UWc

We’re experiencing a domino effect of those consequences. Here’s just one example:

A majority of truckers are vowing to halt deliveries to cities that defund or disband their police departments, according to a recent poll.

Seventy-nine percent of truck drivers said they felt their safety would be at risk if they had to deliver to a city with a disbanded police department, according to CDL News, a website for the commercial trucking industry.

Someone torched a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta where a man was found sleeping in his car in the drive-thru lane. The restaurant was serving the community. It was an innocent party to what followed. The police came. The inebriated man did not cooperate, and it went downhill from there.

We live about 25 miles from Atlanta where a black man was shot and killed by a police officer. What if the rage spreads beyond the borders of Georgia’s capital? There are thousands of soft targets all over the city.

As much as many people believe that what we are seeing is about race, most of it is not. There are people who are taking advantage of a real tragedy that could easily spiral out of control. In fact, it is spiraling out of control.

I realize that millions of Americans are armed, but when it comes to the real thing, it’s not what we see on TV and the movies. There are all types of scenarios where things can go bad very fast.