Friday, October 24, 2008
Coffeehouse Conversation
As many of you know I frequent Raspberry’s quite often, usually at least three afternoons a week. I do so for the same reason most people go to coffee houses – to meet people and converse – after all if you just want to drink coffee it is cheaper and easier to make some at home.
I have found it an excellent way to not only meet new people and hear new stories – if you listen well enough I have found that everyone has at least one or two really good stories about things that they have experienced that are worth writing down and preserving. As some of you know, my dream is to eventually to make a living as a writer, so everyone’s stories provide background or plots or characters for stories I hope to write.
I have also found that the coffeehouse is a great way to keep your fingers on the pulse of Gabriola. If you talk with enough people you can often get an idea of what many feel are some of the ideas and concerns of what is changing Gabriola.
One of several themes that have emerged of late is the perception that Gabriola is experiencing a serious rise in crime over the last couple of years. I don’t know whether there has actually been a rise in crime or whether people are just becoming more aware of crime on the island. Reliable statistics are hard to come by as many crimes and incidents go unreported, but it seems that just about everybody has a story of a crime for which no one was apprehended. Why many crimes seem to be going unreported is three fold. If it isn’t a major theft many people feel that it is not worth reporting as their insurance rates may go up and their perception is that the culprit won’t be apprehended anyway. There is also a long-standing island tradition of independence and solving problems without getting the authorities involved - this island community did exist for a century or two without any resident police and crime was not a major problem.
There seems to have been a recent spate of vandalism, burglaries, car thefts, assaults, domestic violence and threats without much in the way of perceptions of arrests. Regardless of what the actual stats are the perception of a significant crime rise is causing people to be more careful of locking doors, being increasingly vigilant and saddest of all being more suspicious of some of the people who have moved here recently and seem to have no jobs. This very suspicion and vigilance is helping to destroy the sense of community that once existed here, and suspiciousness breeds on itself making people more wary of strangers and less friendly in general.
When you are burglarized it is a traumatic experience, the victim feels violated and usually never again feels as safe as they once did. They also tend to exhibit increased levels of anxiety and depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which often affect their health, their enjoyment of life and even their mortality. The same trauma holds true for people who have been raped, assaulted or physically threatened.
Knowing these things result from crime is not going to have much effect on the amount of crimes that happen because the criminal mind is largely devoid of caring about anyone beside themselves; but, knowing that the feelings you have are common and normal for victims may help make sense of what you are feeling, and may help you deal with these problems. If you know what and why you are feeling something you are half way to resolving the problem. It is also important to remember that even if crime is increasing we are probably considerably safer than we would be in a non-island community
More on what we can do to prevent or help apprehend criminals in a future article. It is time to take back our community.
Ian has a Masters degree in counseling and 30 odd years of practice and teaching psychology and counseling. He presently runs a limited counseling service here on Gabriola.
I have found it an excellent way to not only meet new people and hear new stories – if you listen well enough I have found that everyone has at least one or two really good stories about things that they have experienced that are worth writing down and preserving. As some of you know, my dream is to eventually to make a living as a writer, so everyone’s stories provide background or plots or characters for stories I hope to write.
I have also found that the coffeehouse is a great way to keep your fingers on the pulse of Gabriola. If you talk with enough people you can often get an idea of what many feel are some of the ideas and concerns of what is changing Gabriola.
One of several themes that have emerged of late is the perception that Gabriola is experiencing a serious rise in crime over the last couple of years. I don’t know whether there has actually been a rise in crime or whether people are just becoming more aware of crime on the island. Reliable statistics are hard to come by as many crimes and incidents go unreported, but it seems that just about everybody has a story of a crime for which no one was apprehended. Why many crimes seem to be going unreported is three fold. If it isn’t a major theft many people feel that it is not worth reporting as their insurance rates may go up and their perception is that the culprit won’t be apprehended anyway. There is also a long-standing island tradition of independence and solving problems without getting the authorities involved - this island community did exist for a century or two without any resident police and crime was not a major problem.
There seems to have been a recent spate of vandalism, burglaries, car thefts, assaults, domestic violence and threats without much in the way of perceptions of arrests. Regardless of what the actual stats are the perception of a significant crime rise is causing people to be more careful of locking doors, being increasingly vigilant and saddest of all being more suspicious of some of the people who have moved here recently and seem to have no jobs. This very suspicion and vigilance is helping to destroy the sense of community that once existed here, and suspiciousness breeds on itself making people more wary of strangers and less friendly in general.
When you are burglarized it is a traumatic experience, the victim feels violated and usually never again feels as safe as they once did. They also tend to exhibit increased levels of anxiety and depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which often affect their health, their enjoyment of life and even their mortality. The same trauma holds true for people who have been raped, assaulted or physically threatened.
Knowing these things result from crime is not going to have much effect on the amount of crimes that happen because the criminal mind is largely devoid of caring about anyone beside themselves; but, knowing that the feelings you have are common and normal for victims may help make sense of what you are feeling, and may help you deal with these problems. If you know what and why you are feeling something you are half way to resolving the problem. It is also important to remember that even if crime is increasing we are probably considerably safer than we would be in a non-island community
More on what we can do to prevent or help apprehend criminals in a future article. It is time to take back our community.
Ian has a Masters degree in counseling and 30 odd years of practice and teaching psychology and counseling. He presently runs a limited counseling service here on Gabriola.
