When my roommate moved back into her parents’ house last January, I was excited to live alone, and until the spring semester ended, living alone was everything I had hoped it would be. While Lawrence was overflowing with college students, it never occurred to me how isolated I actually was and how dangerous living alone is.

Even though the apartment complex I was living in at the time did not have a security system, I hardly ever bothered to lock my door. Lawrence reminded me of the small town I used to live in and so I was too naïve to envision worst-case scenarios.

In hindsight, I can’t believe how recklessly I behaved. However, as the nation saw through Kelsey Smith’s abduction, there are people who are not as fortunate as I.

It’s embarrassing that it took Smith’s murder to force us to give more thought to the dangers around us. But our shame should not stop us from learning from this tragedy.

As most people already know, Smith was forced into her own car by her murderer, in broad daylight, in the parking lot of the Target across the street from Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kan. Smith’s abduction was one of the few cases in which someone who was physically able to fight back was kidnapped during the day, in a public place, in a “good” part of town.

All Targets have security cameras as well as a security guard who can usually be found standing inside of the building near the front doors during the stores’ business hours.

Yet Smith fell through the cracks.

The simple answer to the question of how do we prevent further murders like Kelsey Smith’s is to require all public places to install surveillance that covers their entire property and have it manned by security personnel 24 hours a day. Yet believe it or not, most businesses do not have enough money to provide this service and still make a profit.

In addition, most business owners would argue that the manpower and money would be wasted, considering that the circumstances of Smith’s murder were quite unique. They would also argue that by the time a security guard could reach the parking lot, it would already be too late.

And though Smith’s murder has opened eyes and it is taken seriously, big business owners have a valid argument.

This problem applies more specifically to students at the University of Kansas than one might think at first glance.

Every time I have ever heard the question of security mentioned in conjunction with the University, the answer has always been that we need more “blue lights.”

For those of you who are new, the blue lights, located on the corner of every block at the University, are activated by pushing a button on the lights’ poles. Then, said blue light sends a message to campus security. Next, campus security supposedly arrives lightning fast to the area where the blue light was activated to save us from whatever danger we were confronted with.

While I am not sure how fast the reaction time is or how many lights there actually are, it does not really matter. Like I said before, it only takes a few seconds to murder or abduct someone. So even having blue lights on every inch of campus is not going to solve the problem. Don’t get me wrong. I applaud Student Senate and other groups and individuals’ efforts to provide more security at the University. However, I think that our focus on blue lights and how to make the University itself more secure has blinded us to the real issue—what we can do to protect ourselves while at the University (or anywhere else).

Before leaving her home to go to Target, Smith told her parents and her boyfriend where she was headed. But, again, as we have now learned, alerting someone else of our whereabouts only helps in the aftermath of a situation.

So what is the answer then? There is never going to be a way that we can guarantee our safety. However, there are things that we can personally do to increase it.

As silly as it sounds, men and women should always carry mace on them. The Hollywood portrayal of mace shows women pulling it out of their purse, but because we attend a university, backpacks are another great place to conceal it.

One thing I do when I am walking in Lawrence at night is talk, or pretend to talk, on my cell phone. While this is no more helpful than pushing a button on a blue light, it at least helps to discourage possible attackers by making them aware that there is at least one person who knows exactly where you are and will call 911.

And as painful as this may sound, keep your iPod volume on low. I have seen so many people on campus jogging, listening to their iPod on high, and not paying attention to what is going on around them. Even in a group of people, it would be easy to sneak up on someone who has their music on high and is in their own world.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are living alone, or are at home alone for any reason, have some sort of plan for what you would do if danger did present itself. As dumb as they seemed, the fire escape plans we spent every bus ride learning when we were young would have saved our lives in case of an actual emergency.

Most importantly, always carry the fear of abduction in the back of your mind when alone in public or elsewhere. I’m not saying never go outside again or look over your shoulder every five seconds—but chances are if you are at least a little worried about the possibility of abduction constantly, you will be less likely to be reckless.

Chambers is a Paola sophomore in journalism and political science.