The Personal Security Guard

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An Excerpt from my book, 'The Personal Body Guard' still in the making. What do you think?

It is amazing how every time we consider the safety in our homes and ourselves, the first thought that would cross our mind is the law enforcement agencies; the Police, Soldiers, NSDC, and all of the other government agencies saddled with the responsibility of officially protecting lives and properties.
Though, I would say that this does not constitute any breach of protocol, as these agencies are the ones statutorily saddled with the responsibility to provide security to the society.
But I want to call for a concerted effort by every citizen to be involved in securing our society as security should be regarded as everybody’s responsibility.
In every sphere of our lives, we need to be conscious of staying alive and healthy; without danger, or damage or loss to our lives and properties: these are the whole essence of security guard duty and safety.
Being conscious of our security situation will be likened to be conscious of hunger, which propels us to go about in search of sustenance, that will satisfy our desire for food.
While it would be accepted as the norm for the security agencies to providing the relevant environment for us to look for the means of sustenance, it is our responsibility in creating a sustainable means to earn a living.
In the same vein, we should hold the government responsible for providing for us how to live in safety and in a secured environment. It is also our responsibility to stay secure and live and to stay out of harm’s way.
I could follow this chain of thoughts on and on by trying to justify that position, but it will not be understood without first appreciating the whole hog of what security entails

What does Security Entail?

The New International Webster Comprehensive Dictionary defines Security in the context we are looking at, as a “State of being secured, specifically, freedom from danger, risk, poverty or apprehension.”
That, to me sounds quite an extensive interpretation of the word ‘Security.’ But since we are here to look at what that word entails, it will not be out of place if we pause here briefly to examine that definition in a broader concept.
By understanding it in details, we will be able to know the role everyone will need to play to keep our environment safe in particular, and the society secured in general.
That is going to be the first word in our definition that we will be examining; to be secured. To be secured means to be guarded against, or likely to be exposed to danger: being safe from fear, apprehension; to be confident.
In our society these days when danger seems to be lurking behind every shadow, and closed doors; who then is properly secured, or free from fear. I may be sounding a bit pessimistic about the situation in our society here, but this will give us a general idea to illustrate that fear pervades every stratum of the society.
It then implies that everyone should be engaged in the fight to regain confidence and safety from the forces that have held us to this state of apprehension.

The second point from our definition of security is the ‘freedom from danger.’ What then constitutes a danger in our society that has held us bound to fear and apprehension?
These are human forces that live with us and amongst us. They are the factors that cause danger to our environment, and they are not from outer space. 
They are not aliens, but human beings like us; our brothers and sisters, our friends that share the same fate with us and live with us.
So what should be our response in dealing with these characters? This is where security becomes everyone’s business. We all need to watch out for that character that has stepped out of line with the normal life’s norm.

The third point is to be free from risk. The risk in this context of security is defined as to encounter harm, loss or hazard, or danger. It means being exposed to harm, loss, or hazard, or a dangerous situation. 
If we are to feel secure in our environment, home, society, we should all play a significant part to avoid exposing ourselves to risk. Just to try out how much security concern we have in our personal lives, let us try to answer these questions.
What are the preventive measures we have applied in our daily life’s activities that expose us to a risk? Do we just entrust ourselves, like passengers in an aircraft who trust the pilot with their lives, to what the government security agencies alone would do to secure us, thus not assessing our own plans to a security watch?

Fourth: Freedom from poverty. Poverty is a state of lack. Lack can come from varieties of ways and can take up any shape.
People react differently to a state of lack. Some people would simply recoil back into their shells, or become introvert in the face of poverty to becoming a nuisance in the society.

This group can later be spiraled into becoming a factor of security risk that we have been trying to curtail or flee from.

Others will use their state of poverty to reinvent their lives and become better citizens in the society. What role can we play to arrest the spreading of poverty enhanced danger in our neighborhood?

Here again, it becomes evident that not only the security agencies have a role to play in maintaining security in our society, but the citizens also have a greater role to push poverty out of the security risk elements.

Lastly, being free from apprehension is to look into the future with hope and with confidence. What are the ingredients in the society that will cause one to be hopeful?

With the myriad tales of hopelessness staring at us from the institutions of government, people are looking at the future with a grave foreboding, with misgiving, and with uncertainty.