[00:00.00]Years ago in America,it was customary for families to leave their doors unlocked,day and night.In this essay,
[00:09.80]Greene regrets that people can no longer trust each other
[00:15.62]and have to resort to elaborate security systems to protect themselves and their possessions.
[00:25.05]THE LAND OF THE LOCK’           by Bob Greene
[00:29.96]In the house where I grew up,it was our custom to leave the front door on the latch at night.
[00:37.20]I don't know if that was a local term or if it is universal;
[00:42.79]"on the latch" meant the door was closed but not locked.None of us carried keys;
[00:50.73]the last one in for the evening would close up,and that was it.
[00:56.14]2 Those days are over.In rural areas as well as in cities,doors do not stay unlocked,even for part of an evening.
[01:06.09]3 Suburbs and country areas are,in many ways,even more vulnerable than well-patroled urban streets.
[01:15.13]Statistics show the crime rate rising more dramatically in those allegedly tranquil areas than in cities.
[01:23.98]At any rate,the era of leaving the front door on the latch is over.
[01:30.02]4 It has been replaced by dead-bolt locks,security chains,electronic alarm systems and trip wires
[01:39.21]hooked up to a police station or private guard firm Many suburban families have sliding glass doors on their patios,
[01:49.11]with steel bars elegantly built in so no one can pry the doors open.
[01:55.77]5 It is not uncommon,in the most pleasant of homes,to see pasted on the windows small notices announcing that
[02:04.71]the premises are under surveillance by this security force or that guard company.
[02:11.29]6 The lock is the new symbol of America.Indeed,a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurance company
[02:22.32]featured not charts showing how much at risk we are,but a picture of a child's bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.
[02:33.26]7 The ad pointed out that,yes,it it the insurance companies that pay for stolen goods,
[02:40.21]but who is going to pay for what the new atmosphere of distrust and fear is doing to our way of life?
[02:48.15]Who is going to make the psychic payment for the transformation of America from the Land of the Free to the Land of the Lock?
[02:57.29]8For that is what has happened.We have become so used to defending ourselves against the new atmosphere of American life,
[03:06.44]so used to putting up barriers,that we have not had time to think about what it may mean.
[03:13.75]9 For some reason we are satisfied when we think we are well-protected;it does not occur to us to ask ourselves:
[03:22.89]Why has this happened?Why are we having to barricade ourselves against our neighbors and fellow citizens,
[03:30.86]and when,exactly,did this start to take over our lives?
[03:36.69]10 And it has taken over.If you work for a medium-to large-size company,
[03:43.09]chances are that you don't just wander in and out of work.You probably carry some kind of access card,
[03:51.58]electronic or otherwise,that allows you in and out of your place of work.
[03:57.56]Maybe the security guard at the front desk knows your face and will wave you in most days,
[04:04.48]but the fact remains that the business you work for feels threatened enough to keep outsiders away via these "keys."
[04:13.54]11 It wasn't always like this.Even a decade ago,most private businesses had a policy of free access.
[04:22.69]It simply didn't occur to managers that the proper thing to do was to distrust people.
[04:29.48]12 Look at the airports.Parents used to take children out to departure gates to watch planes land and take off.
[04:38.54]That's all gone.Airports are no longer a place of education and fun;they are the most sophisticated of security sites.
[04:48.50]13 With electronic X-ray equipment,we seem finally to have figured out a way to hold the terrorists,real and imagined,
[04:57.38]at bay;it was such a relief to solve this problem that
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