Dakota Beacon

I came across an article the other day by David DeMay in The American Thinker written December 21, 2025, titled “Why America Must Relearn Situational Awareness”.   I know this topic may not excite the reader. It may even sound a bit weird. But for one’s own safety and the safety of others the attribute of situational awareness must be understood, taken to heart, and practiced.

Many of us never give a second thought to situational awareness and many more may not even know what it is. But in today’s American cultural environment, especially in public places, awareness of what is going on around you could save your life.

Situation awareness occurs in many venues together with proper training. Law enforcement and military commanders rely on situation awareness to make strategic decisions. First Responders use situation awareness to assess situations quickly and prioritize actions. Airline Pilots keep an awareness of their surroundings and make informed decisions during flights.

Wikipedia generally defines situational awareness as the perception of elements in the environment, how they change considering time and space, understanding their meaning, and predicting their status in the future. That definition sounds sterile, almost blasé, compared to the context in which I am framing situational awareness.

Citizens have assumed, for good reasons, that public spaces are fundamentally safe and secure and that vigilance is unnecessary. By virtue of law enforcement and peaceful experience we have arrived at this assumption. However, recent evidence proves this assumption to be invalid.

Not a day goes by in which news media reports another stabbing or slashing or assault. A constant stream of news illustrates a seemingly endless array of assaults in stores, on the street, and random attacks on public transport. In shopping centers, on public transportation, and in parking lots – anywhere the opportunity presents itself –  unprovoked violence occurs. Police are never present and their response time is seldom prompt. The common thread appears to be the public’s nonawareness of dangerous situations around them.

Here are examples from New York City alone in 2025.

-- Multiple Random stabbings and slashings occurred on NYC Subways in August within 48 hours.

---- A 23‑year‑old was stabbed in the back on a No. 1 train platform at 96th Street in a random attack.

---- A 45‑year‑old was stabbed in the back at Union Square.

---- A 38‑year‑old man was stabbed on a No. 6 train at Grand Central Station.

-- Again, in August 2025 in the NYC subway system two women were stabbed and slashed within 24 hours in unprovoked and unrelated attacks.

---- A 29-year-old woman was slashed in what police described as a random attack.

---- A 25-year-old woman was stabbed in the back also random and unprovoked.

-- In December 2024 a woman sleeping on a train at Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station was set on fire by a stranger in an unprovoked attack.

-- Other recent incidents in the NYC subway system December 2025-January 2026:

---- A man was stabbed to death

---- A man was shoved in front of a train

---- Two men were stabbed in separate attacks minutes apart on New Years Eve.

These are a very few examples occurring in just the NYC subway system alone in one year. This tabulation could be expanded to include the entire cities of Chicago, Los Angles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, and others.

As an aside, situational awareness must not be confused with something called hypervigilance. These are two entirely different mental states. Situational awareness involves a calm, learnable skill. It perceives what is normal in one’s surroundings and recognizes when something deviates from the norm. It is relaxed alertness -- heads up, eyes open, mind engaged. We employ this same mental state when driving a vehicle. We are aware of surroundings, ready to respond, but not consumed with anxiety.

Hypervigilance, by contrast, is a trauma state. It assumes danger everywhere. It exhausts the nervous system and cannot be sustained for ordinary life. For this very reason, hypervigilance may contribute to an increased number of people being trained and licensed to carry concealed firearms.

We do not need to live in fear. But neither can we afford to live unaware of our surroundings. A state of awareness assumes a person to be alert, observant, and prepared to act early before a situation escalates. Situational awareness is not about expecting the worst. It is about being ready for the unexpected, calmly, quietly, and early.

In a declining civilization where threats are real but irregular, vigilance is not hysteria. It is simply a form of adult responsibility. Accepting that responsibility, however uncomfortable, is ultimately an act of care, both for oneself and for others.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).