Goal Setting

No one can hurt you without your permission. It’s important to remember this as you go through a day overflowing with danger - real and imagined. That teenager you stand next to while waiting for your friend to drive by could be a mugger. That nice old lady you’re sitting beside of could be a thief waiting for the right moment to pick your bag. As you stand in some dimly-lit corner flagging down a cab, you could fall prey to senseless acts of brutality. How do you protect yourself from all these and more? Look around, and learn to appreciate the value of the things you see - or don’t - as a secret weapon.

1. Umbrella - The umbrella is handy for a rainy day and for self-defense, too. Use it as a cane, and aim decisive blows into your assailant’s head and body. You may also use it to block your enemy’s punches or strike his hand so he accidentally lets go of his knife.

2. Glass bottle - You could be swilling from a glass bottle one moment and defending yourself the next. The glass bottle is widely recognized as a street weapon, and for good reason. Before breakage, it packs a lot of strength as you use it to strike your opponent’s head. Once the bottle breaks, it becomes even more lethal. The bottleneck, with its jagged end, could lacerate any target.

3. Ballpen - Believe it or not, that Cross pen set you purchased could be turned into weapons. Those Cross century pens make the perfect weapon because of their material and size. They’re sturdy, durable, and so handy you could stash them anywhere - inside your bag, in your front pocket, or stuck to the notebook you are carrying. Then, too, Cross pens are such tools it’s difficult to associate them with anything menacing. Your attacker might even laugh at you if you take one out and declare, “I could hurt you real bad with my pen, so you might want to return to wherever it is you came from.”

As a weapon, the humble pen is potent and mighty. You can use it to stab your assailant’s body or gouge an eye out, thus buying you precious time to escape.

4. Nail file - Not only for cleaning nails, you could use this to clean the smug smile off that mugger’s face. Use this the same way you would use your Cross pens.

5. Hair spray - Aerosol is an irritant, so if you spray this directly onto your attacker’s eyes, it guarantees short-term blindness and disorientation. You will have thus time to scream for help as you run away.

Remember, you are never powerless. You are never unarmed. By being sensitive to the dangers that lurk everywhere and the little ordinary weapons you can use to protect yourself, you might even live to be ninety!