Last week I went to Angel Taveras inauguration, out in front of City Hall at the end of Kennedy Plaza.
The crew was reasonably prompt on that freezing day, but still took a little time for set up.
I saw some workers assembling a plexiglas box, and I wondered if this was going to be some kind of shield for the new Mayor or the Governor-elect, standing out in front of a crowd of people dressed in winter coats. It’s a haunting thought, the vulnerability and courage of people who address a crowd.
The box turned out to be a portable lift for Congressman Langevin, to get his wheelchair up to the platform.
In the past few years, I’ve been to events where politicians local and national met with the public. None of them seemed to me to be safe from a malicious person with a hidden weapon.
I’ve met with our representatives in their offices, I’ve run into them at the grocery store.
They’re only human. They go out with their families and you see them around.
Is the cost of public life a kind of house arrest? Or are we ready to defend the peace?
Recurring Nightmare 
Let’s leave politics alone and just think of Rebecca Shaeffer or Theresa Saldana.Both were young actresses,but neither was a megastar like Angelina Jolie.
Shaeffer was shot and killed when she answered her door by a deranged stalker.
Saldana was stabbed within an inch of her life by another crazy.
Any kind of notoriety leaves one open to these attacks,it doesn’t have to be political.
For what it’s worth neither woman was associated with any particular causes.
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