I recently had a security system installed in my house. Single woman; good idea, right?

Apparently it was, because it was triggered tonight.

Last night someone got my neighbor’s gasoline and had forced the outside cover open on my vehicle and left the screw-in lid dangling. The neighbor’s son told me about it when I got home. I wouldn’t have realized what had happened if he hadn’t told me. I have a security motion light that might have come on and scared them away. Something seemed to have changed their mind.

I grew up in the city where people automatically knew to make sure their doors were locked at night, but didn’t think a thing in the world about leaving their windows open at night while they slept. Later on, it became a common practice to make sure that everything was locked up tight in your house and your car was locked at all times — even while you were driving.

I doubt if my grandparents ever even thought about locking their houses up in the middle of the day while they were there, but did lock up at night. I’ve known people who would go away for a weekend or a week and not lock their doors. Of course that’s been a while, and I bet they’ve changed their trusting ways since then, I’m sure.

We once lived in a country where people trusted each other. Ours was once a land of security. My, how things have changed. Most people don’t feel absolutely secure in their own homes anymore, and Sept. 11 shook everyone into the realization that we were not safe as a nation any longer.

Most of us don’t want to live in a world where “big brother is watching you” all the time, but we’ve gotten used to the idea. Stores are equipped with security cameras. Many businesses are wired inside and out. I guess people feeling like they have to bring that security into their own homes is the last step in trusting that people in the world want to do right by each other.

One of my friends recently had someone try to break in her house. The whole thing was captured on a security camera in the neighborhood, and the man was caught red-handed. It’s hard for a person caught on tape to deny they are guilty. Security cameras are so small and so well hidden these days, a person never knows when they are being recorded, or from what direction.

I don’t really want a pet, but I think having a big protective dog is a good idea, one with the attitude of, “You mess with my master, you mess with me!”

I’ve heard people off from here make fun of women in southeastern Kentucky who carry weapons in their purses, or in their cars. Seems to me like carrying your friends with you — Colt, Smith & Wesson — is not such a bad idea.

As citizens of the United States, we are all crazy if we let the government disarm us. The history of nations who have given up their guns is proof enough that it doesn’t turn out well. I personally think every adult should own their own firearm and know how to use it.

I’ve grown up with guns and gun safety all my life. It would be more alien to me to think of life without guns than life with them. Part of that might be family tradition. All the Hensleys that I know of have always been hunters and/or marksmen.

I hope I never see the day that I’d have to defend myself or a loved one with a weapon against man or beast. I pray that God will put up a hedge of protection around my family, my friends, my neighbors and me so that no evil would ever come near us or our dwelling places. God has certainly protected me from a lot of things during my lifetime. He is my first line of defense. I believe guardian angels are on call, watching over us if we trust in God and ask for his protection.

The thought of harming another person is not something I’d ever want to do, but I do believe in self-defense.

The police say, “If someone breaks inside your house and you are there, you have every right to defend yourself.”

I figure if someone breaks in a person’s house, they might as well have a bull’s eye painted on them. They have automatically volunteered to be the center of target practice inside another person’s home, and they’d better pray the person with a gun is a good enough shot to hit an arm or a leg, or their backside as they leave. A frightened woman with a gun, however, might not be calm enough to take aim at a leg.

It is a crazy world we live in. I can’t help but wonder in this area of the country if people break in on someone, what in the world do they think would be in that person’s house worth losing their life over? Most of the people I know wouldn’t have a problem using firepower to stop an intruder. Nobody I know keeps money at home. We’re not the type of society that has expensive jewelry that would be worth the trouble of taking. I just can’t imagine what would be in another person’s house that a thief would think it was worth risking their life for.

I saw a story on the news of a little 92-year-old woman who had bought groceries and put them in her car. She got in and a man slid in the passenger side and told her he had a gun and wanted her money. She told him she didn’t have any money, then witnessed to him about God for about 10 minutes. She prayed with him and he left in tears. Before he got out of the car, she gave him the $10 she had left in her purse. Good for her. Surely God was watching over her and working through her. There was one thief who got more than he bargained for.

I appreciate the state police who were notified when my security system went off, and appreciate them sending the Harlan City Police to my house. They did a thorough check inside and outside my house to make sure everything was secure again before they left. It’s good to know that if I do everything I can to make things secure from the inside, they are more than willing to do their job when they are called on.