You’re never really as safe as you think you are. That’s probably one of the more eye-opening lessons I’ve learned in a while, and I learned it the hard way.

Too many of us waltz through life as young, tough and invincible individuals, thinking nothing will ever happen to us. Two weeks ago, you could have thrown me into that category. But more recently I’ve come to realize I may be young and think I’m tough, but I’m certainly not invincible. More importantly, I realized that something, anything can happen to any of us at any moment.

I was in St. Louis about two weeks ago, minding my own business, and having a good time at a downtown bar with a couple of friends. The bartender shouted last call and 2 a.m. rolled around and it was time to go back to the hotel.

So myself and the two girls I was with left the bar and began walking down a well lit street to the next corner. We’re no more than a couple hundred feet into our short walk to catch a taxi when I’m forcefully poked in my ribs from behind. I stopped dead in my tracks, my two companions turned around with looks of fear and shock on their faces.

The unknown man jabbing me in the back then urgently gave me an order in a thick accent. “Give me your s***,” he said.

I turned around only to find I towered over this short stranger. Not intimidated by his size, I replied that I didn’t have any s*** for him. Then he jabbed me again, this time much harder, yelling the same urgent order.

That’s when I looked down to realize this man wasn’t poking me with his finger, but a large, silver handgun with a black silencer on the end of it. After feeling my heart stop, I realized it wasn’t worth arguing with this guy any more. I whipped out my wallet, opened it up and once again told him I didn’t have any money.

He looked into the dark emptiness of my wallet and demanded that I give it to him anyway. So I handed it over and he ran off, hopped into a getaway car and he and his buddy sped off for the interstate.

The whole thing happened so fast I never really had time to be scared. But after talking to police, calling my parents in the middle of the night to tell them their son had been robbed at gunpoint and staying on the phone until nearly 4 a.m. canceling bank and credit cards, I came to a realization: I’m not as safe as I think I am.

Things happen for reasons and often illogical reasons. Why would a man armed with a gun run up to three people, two of which are women carrying big purses and rob the third guy with no apparent signs of having any cash?

Perhaps for the same reason an Eastern student would walk across the street break into a window with a knife and brutally rape, stab and strangle a woman to death he’d never met.

These things don’t make sense, but they happen. Shannon McNamara had no chance of knowing or protecting herself from her killer just as I had no way of foreseeing some guy was going to point a gun at me and threaten to kill me if I didn’t hand over some money.

While these are situations unfortunately no one can foresee or control, there are other instances where precautions can and should be taken. Every student on this campus should take as many safety precautions as possible.

If you’re walking down the street and see someone trying to knock a screen window in, you shouldn’t assume someone’s locked out of their apartment. You should