A Rock Through The Window - There Goes The Comfort Zone

Right around five PM yesterday, a loud noise, like a shotgun blast, got me out of my office and into the dining area of our house. There was a big hole in the shade covering the picture window. There was glass all over the rug, and all over the dining room table and chairs. I drew the vertical shade, and saw a very large hole through the middle of the thermopane window. It looked like a shotgun hole. It wasn't. Lying on the carpet near the window was a good size rock.

Someone had thrown that rock with quite a bit of force - enough force to blast through the double pane window and then through the shade - leaving shards of glass as far as fifteen feet into the room!

We called the police - they came in 10 minutes, recovered the rock and filled out a report, and looked at the area around the house. We had heard nothing, seen nothing, and had no clue as to what might have happened and what caused it.

After the police left, my wife and I got busy cleaning up - a process that took close to an hour. Then I taped over the hole in the window so it was sealed, and so that the remainder of the window would stay intact.

Nothing like this had ever happened to us before. No acts of violence, no vandalism, no feeling of being threatened. The house had always seemed like a real comfort zone. The closest thing to this was the theft of a car from our driveway some years ago. The car was old, there was no evidence of forceable entry, and the police were rather droll about it.

Now we feel uneasy - this rock throwing could be interpreted so many ways. A deliberate act directed at us - for God only knows what reason? A random act of vandalism? A mistake - whoever did it didn't mean to do it - at least not to us? Some kind of destructive impulse that just happened to target us? We'll never know. What we do know is that a comfort zone can change in a flash - without warning, without reason.

So what do we do? First thing is to accept that we will probably never know the cause - so it's a waste of time reflecting on it. It's a waste of time to look with suspicion at the people that walk, drive or run through the neighborhood - although doing so is a really human response. It's a waste of time trying to guard against a repeat - chances of it happening again are very small.

So we will get the window fixed, make sure the replacement thermopane window is shatterproof so we don't get glass spraying into the room if it should happen again, and then forget it.

Except. Our comfort zone took a little hit. It will never be exactly the same again. And our empathy for victims of real violence and circumstance has gone up a few levels. And that's good.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com;Website:www,coxconsultgroup.com; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

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