You’re going to think I’m a jerk for saying this at first, but you’ll understand in a minute.
Enough already with the stick figure people on the back of your car identifying your family, and your dog and cat. Enough with the “I’m proud of my Cub Scout” stickers, “My Child is an Honor Student at XYZ Elementary” or the figures of dancers, cheerleaders, hockey players and whatever sport those kids are in. Stop it with the stickers!
I could drive to the nearest intersection and probably pick off eight to ten cars that have crap like that on the back. Just knock it off. The minivan tells us you have a big family and are proud of it, no sense in advertising how many mouths you’re feeding.
The beef I have with that stems from having worked for a private investigative firm. Some of the first things you learn in this field are how to conceal who you are, who your family is and anything about you that someone could use to find out more information.
Imagine I was a robber bent on pulling into a mall and robbing a shopper, I park behind a van that has two adult stick figures and three little girl stick figures and a dog and cat. Then as I wait for someone to look particularly victimizable I see the van driver, who happens to be wearing a nice sized wedding ring, as she digs through her purse beside the driver door (have them ready folks!). This being my opportunity I hop out of my vehicle and get over there and ask as I see people walking by, “I noticed a figure of a dog on your van, what kind of dog do you have?”, then just as soon as the people walking by are out of view, I knock her down, make her give me her jewelry and purse and I’m outta there.
The less a person knows about you, the less they are able to use as a segway to do something else, potentially harmful, to you. I’m not trying to make you paranoid, but in this society you should be a little bit paranoid, kids getting kidnapped everyday and it’s the shopping season for the holidays, so you know that’s happening a lot too.
If you’re going to leave those stickers on your car, just be aware when a stranger walks up to you and seems to know more than he should, you made it easy, anyone that’s paying attention can watch for just a few minutes and learn a lot about a person.
Be careful people, not everyone is nice!
