Invisible Prisoners: Why Are So Many Children, Especially Girls, Placed in Solitary Confinement?

Invisible Prisoners: Why Are So Many Children, Especially Girls, Placed in Solitary Confinement?

Who Stole The Real Out of Rap?

As a 43 year old, I was around during the infancy of rap & the birth of the hip Hop culture on a whole. The edge that made rap music what it was in the 70’s & 80’s and its ability to flourish over the years is that the music itself originated under the ideals of realness. Rappers such as Africa Bambatta, Kurtis Blow and songs such as ‘The Message” brought the day to day struggles of urban life to the masses across the nation & around the world. Not just within the entertainment industry, but the whole state of mind among inner city African Americans at that time caused the generation to adopt the moniker of “Keep it Real,” to be the slogan for the time.

It was the realness of rap music that appealed to the youth and transcended racial lines. I remember thinking to myself that finally, people would now understand the day to day plight of inner city youth. Whether not anything would be done was a different story but at least now it would be out there. Rappers were the reporters of the urban youth and they told it how they knew it. N.W.A. and the GETO Boyz gave the world the urban life straight with no chaser. 2Live Crew and Digital Underground added a comedic aspect to their approach while Public Enemy and X-Clan got into our minds; motivating us to make a change. The bottom line was there were many different artists speaking to the world on behalf of a generation and culture that desperately needed a voice.

Fast forward to 2013; each day I take a trip of approximately 35-45 minutes into downtown. This trip takes me along scenic Lake Shore Drive into the Loop the out the 290 highway. As a lifelong fan of rap music & the hip hop culture, I listen to what’s being played on the radio. During my trip, every rap artist that I listened to during my travel, spoke of the exact same content in their music. Money, cars & women were the topics and hook of every song. How much money they have, how much sex they get, and what kind of car they drive. The artists speak on how they belittle others with less money or how they eliminate (lyrically I assume) others that are trying to get where they are. The artists are giving listeners an impression of life that is anything BUT real. Even the artists themselves don’t have the type of money and live the type of lives that they rap about. One record said, “I woke up in a new Bugatti.” Get the f@#k outta here!!

What frightens me is that impressionable youth are listening to these lyrics and since none of these artists are giving these kids the step by step method of “earning” the type of money that they rap about, these kids are on their own to figure out a way to get it.  The contemporary artists that promote this type of lyrical content give African American youth a fictitious view of life. They undermine the parental efforts of instilling a strong work ethic and promote a short cut mentality in Black youth. Youth that adopt this short cut mentality believe that they are entitled to expensive material possessions without a diligent work ethic. Furthermore, these artists have the opportunity to explain the “make believe” nature of their lyrics through interviews.  However, they choose to show their “outlaw” nature through random run ins with law enforcement, used by publicists to enhance their, street credibility. Ironically, most of these artists receive their first contact with police after becoming famous.

Ironically, the ring leader or the “Boss, “of the circus of unreal rappers calls himself Rick Ross. William Leonard Roberts II is a former Florida correctional officer that caught his big break and ran with it.  After graduating from Miami Carol City Senior High School, Roberts attended the historically black college Albany State University on a football scholarship. Instead of utilizing his life to inspire & motivate others seeking the same path. Mr. Roberts took the life, style and name of convicted drug dealer; Ricky Ross. The phenomenal good that could have arisen from the story of an individual who worked to feed his family while struggling to attain his goals will never be known. Instead the man was content with the personal gains reaped by claiming the life of another. So pitiful is this case of identity theft, even the way Ross wore his beard and head was imitated. Mr. Roberts went as far as to deny his legitimate past until he was presented with irrefutable evidence of his previous work history.

Real Rick Ross

As an original participant of the hip hop movement, the culture that evolved from it and the music that represents it. I am shocked & appalled at our current state of being. The whole basic dynamic of this life is that of realness, no matter where you come from. The original rappers were reporters from their respective geographical areas.  These reporters used their lyrical ability to give insight on their past, present and future state of being. Though the artists gave it to us in their own manner, they held fast onto the ideology of keeping it real. Through Tupac Shakur’s lyrics we were allowed into his life and inner most thoughts. Notorious Christopher Wallace told us where he came from and how he got to where he was. Ice Cube took us with him for a day in his life.

The Rapper/ RobertsII

The movement began from a people’s desire to evolve and tell the world of their evolution. Though it may sound simple, keeping it real was the essence of the hip hop lifestyle. In order to institute change we must return to rationally based thinking grounded into reality.  It was this way of thinking that created a culture based on integrity that would influence the lives of millions. We must return to this way of thinking, accepting all that is real and rejecting the unreal. At that point we will see the rebirth of the movement that spawned a culture so powerful that it created a music form that changed the face of entertainment; forever.

C.O. William Leonard Roberts II

To Protect and Serve….with a Nice Side Dish

In my ongoing search for incidents of depravity perpetrated by people that we share the planet with, I happened upon New York police officer Gilberto Valle. It seems that on Wednesday October 24^th, 2012 agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation took Officer Gilberto Valle III into custody after they uncovered several plots to kidnap, rape, cook and eat women, yes EAT WOMEN!!! The Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara filed the official criminal complaint charging Valle, a six year veteran of the force with kidnapping, conspiracy and illegal use of a federal law enforcement database. It is said that Valle utilized NYPD surveillance equipment to keep tabs on his would be victims. In one of the most disturbing and unusual arrests involving a police officer, federal investigators discovered files on Valle’s computer pertaining to at least 100 women, according a law enforcement official, some of them were his classmates from high school.

The officer’s estranged wife initially contacted the F.B.I. to report that Valle viewed and kept disturbing items on his computer and feared for the safety of their 1 year old daughter.  On his computer Valle was found to have created a document named,”A Blueprint for Abducting and Cooking.”  The document contained women’s name, birth date and physical details like height, weight and bra size. The evidence against the officer consists largely of e-mails and instant messages in which Officer Valle was “discussing plans to kidnap, rape, torture, kill, cook and eat body parts of a number of women,” according to the complaint. In each case, it appears that the women knew the officer vaguely. And in at least one case, the officer used the National Crime Information Center to get information about a third woman.  

On July 19, Officer Valle sent an instant message to the co-conspirator, indicating that he was meeting with “victim-1” three days later, according to the complaint. The victim, who was interviewed in October by the F.B.I., said she had met the officer that day “at a restaurant for lunch,” according to the complaint. What happened during or after the lunch was not disclosed. The U.S. Attorney says federal investigators found evidence of how closely Mr. Valle may have watched intended victims–cellphone data revealed the cop made and received calls while very close to a second target’s Manhattan apartment. Investigators say interviews with “victim 2″ revealed that she’d never had Mr. Valle over to her place and didn’t know him very well. Also found on Valle’s computer were conversations between he and at least 2 co-conspirators as the planned their acts.  Court documents contained a chilling transcript of an online exchange regarding the second would-be victim. Below are actual recordings of Valle and other unnamed would be accomplices taken from chat sessions held in July 2012:

CC-1 (Co-Conspirator 1), Mr. Valle and his associate allegedly discussed the best ways to kidnap, cook and eat an unnamed victim.

CC-2 (Co-Conspirator 2): I definitely want her and how much again, I’m sorry to ask but I don’t remember.

VALLE: $5,000 and she is all yours.

CC-2: Could we do 4?

VALLE: I am putting my neck on the line here. If something goes wrong somehow, I am in deep shit. $ 5,000 and you need to make sure she is not found. She will definitely make the news.

 In other on-line transmissions contained within the criminal complaint, Mr. Valle agreed with another co-conspirator to kidnap a different woman whom he would deliver bound, gagged and alive. Officer Valle offered to kidnap a woman on an unnamed person’s behalf for a price: “$5,000 and she is all yours,” the officer wrote to that person, according to the complaint. Officer Valle appeared to be under the impression that the person he was communicating with intended to rape the woman, according to the complaint. “She will be alive,” he wrote. “I think I would rather not get involved in the rape. You paid for her. She is all yours; I don’t want to be tempted the next time I abduct a girl.” Valle continued, “I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus,” he wrote to the co-conspirator in one electronic communication recovered by law enforcement authorities. “Cook her over a low heat; keep her alive as long as possible.” When the co-conspirator asked how big the officer’s oven was, Officer Valle replied, “Big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs.” While the complaint does not identify any of the women in question, F.B.I. agents later learned that cellphone tracking devices indicated that Officer Valle had made or received calls in the areas where the women lived.

Held without bail on charges of federal kidnapping conspiracy by the order of Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman; officer Valle’s trial began in February in the courtroom of Judge Paul Gardephe .  Valle's wife Kathleen Mangan took the stand, breaking down in sobs as she described discovering her husband's plot kill her: “I was supposed to be tied by my feet, my throat slit, and they were going to watch the blood rush from my body,” she said. During the trial, the three initial victims, who prosecutors say were Valle's "intended targets," testified as did an FBI agent who read excerpts of Valle's sick web chats in which he described plans to kidnap and barbecue the women who spoke in court.

As the prosecution and defense battled back and forth, the focus of testimony was reality vs. fantasy. An FBI agent took the stand recounting reams of Valle's sick web chats with fellow fetishists - admitting that those his agency considered "serious" sounded very similar to those considered "fantasy." Defense attorney Julia Gatto did not deny the evidence against Valle but chose to refer to his comments as "weird proclivities." Gatto and fellow defense attorney Robert Baum insisted that Valle was just fantasizing and noted that none of the women were ever harmed.

Prosecutors countered that an analysis of Valle's computer found he was taking concrete steps to abduct his wife and at least five other women he knew. Valle "left the world of fantasy and entered the world of reality," prosecutor Hadassa Waxman said during closing arguments. She said the officer's arrest near Halloween last year interrupted a ghoulish plan to "kidnap, torture, rape and commit other horrific acts on young women."

After 2+ days of deliberation, the jury found officer Gilberto Valle III, guilty of conspiring to kidnap and eat women as well as guilty of wrongfully accessing a federal database. Using words such as solid and damning in reference to the evidence they were presented, the jury’s decision was unanimous. Sentencing is scheduled for June 19^th and the former NYPD officer faces a potential life sentence. Many people sentenced to prison write books. I wonder if he plans to share any of his tightly held recipes in a cookbook.

Serial Murder Revisit Roseland Community

The Roseland community in Chicago has had more than their share of serial murder over the years. The new millennium brought to light the serial murderer Geoffrey T. Griffin.  From July of 1998 to July 2000, Griffin used the neighborhoods of the Roseland area of Chicago as his personal killing fields. In a modus operandi familiar among African American serial killers, Geoffrey Griffin would lure area streetwalkers to abandoned buildings in lieu of receiving drugs or cash. Once inside, Griffin would rape then murder his victims. Arrested on June 17, 2000, he was subsequently charged with eight murders and 1 aggravated criminal sexual assault.  Many of his charges stem from bodies found long after his arrest.

On September 22, 2005, Judge Fred Suria convicted Griffin of killing Angela Jones after watching a videotape in which he described how he squeezed Jones' throat during sex after the two smoked crack cocaine.  Judge Suria acquitted him of killing Beverly Burns even though the man's shirt and jacket were spattered with her blood. The judge said that he was troubled by the lack of evidence at the crime scene against Griffin and by the fact that there was no blood of the victim at the scene. Griffin was sentenced to 100 years in prison on November 06, 2005. Trials for the other murders are forthcoming.

In 2010, serial murder returned to Roseland. Michael Johnson, a 24 year old Roseland resident was arrested on May 22, 2010 and charged with three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of criminal sexual assault.  Johnson’s DNA was taken and said to have matched at least four unsolved murders in the area. Currently held in Cook County Department of Corrections on no bond, Johnson now 27 is being investigated for additional murders in the Roseland community.

The premise and purpose of writing and publishing, “TheDarker Side of Evil,” was to enlighten society of the existence of Black serial killers as well as to advise African-American communities of these predator’s abilities to hide and operate in plain sight.  As usual the victims of these crimes were women. More specifically, women labeled nightwalkers or prostitutes that take to life on the streets by virtue of drug addiction.  Drug addicts and prostitutes are viewed by some as people whose behavior brought their fate upon themselves.  In my book, I pointed that society views these people as “throwaways,” people that society has basically given up on and truthfully wish would fall from the face of the earth anyway.

WE MUST CHANGE THE WAY WE VIEW EACH OTHER. The only time society seems to feel any level of empathy is when a problem affects us directly. We as a civilized society must change our judgmental views of each other and begin to care for something outside of ourselves. The devil cannot exist and operate if we keep an eye out for the well-being of the people around us. He thrives on our selfishness and inability to concern with the issues of the people we see and interact with daily. As long as we continue to do what we’ve always done, we will continue to get what we’ve always gotten.

The Speck That Wouldn’t Go Away

Have you ever had a speck that wouldn’t go away? Whether it’s in your eye or on your shirt it can be a bothersome nuisance. Let’s take a look at how an early morning traveler from the 60’s in Chicago handles such a problem.

It was 3:00 a.m. Thursday July 14, 1966 and the humidity in Chicago was nearly unbearable. Barely coherent, Richard staggered down the street and came to rest at a bus stop. “The bitch,” Richard uttered to himself, but then a thought came, “which bitch am I talking about?” He chuckled to himself as he counted the number of people throughout his life that could aptly wear that moniker. Settling on his ex-wife for now, he mumbled “She couldn’t even wait for the ink to dry before gallivanting off with that weasel,” Richard recalled how his ex-wife was remarried in less than two days after their divorce was finalized.  Richard flopped down upon a bus stop bench and attempted to convey the reason for his current state of drunkenness to a man waiting at the bus stop. Attempting to look concerned, yet secretly hoping the tall intoxicated man would leave, the man sharing the bus stop bench listened to Richard’s drunken banter.

The warm Chicago air only exasperated Richard’s intoxicated condition has he rattled on to his unwilling audience about his life as a merchant marine. “I came up to leave on the SS Sinclair Great Lakes, but they gave the job to some punk ahead of me!” Richard said with slurred speech. The man had to admit, the stories were entertaining, at first; he then became nervous when Richard told of his troubles while living in Dallas, Texas. Soon the weary traveler became down right uncomfortable when Richard told him of his exploits of the last few hours.

“My sister and brother in law dropped me off up here at the National Maritime Union (NMU), hiring hall for a job, she gave me  $25 and split; I left and walked east on 100th St. and got a room at the Shipyard Inn,” Richard told the leery listener.  Looking into the night sky as if he could see himself, he then told the man how he and others began to slam shots of whiskey at the bar. Suddenly Richard stopped talking and stood stoic for a few seconds. “That’s when she came in,” he said after the silence. “Who came in?” The bus stop man asked Richard.  He paused to recall her name, “Ella, Ella Mae I think her name was,” Richard responded loudly and flopped onto the bus stop bench as if the thought exhausted him. “The bitch flirted with me from the time she came in,” he said as his blank look of drunkenness was now replaced with an evil sneer. Gone too was the stuttering and stammering of a babbling drunk. In its place was a man ready to tell a tale of true depravity to a captivated audience of one.

“She had been watching me and flirting the whole time,” Richard said as he lit a cigarette. “I told her that I had a bottle in my room and invited her to have a nightcap with me,” he continued. “She thought she was going to drink my booze and leave.” “What did you do?” The man asked with renewed interest. With a facial expression that can only be described as sheer evil, Richard told the man in full detail how he pressed his knife to her throat and raped the woman repeatedly. He also told the man how he rummaged through her purse and took the woman’s 22 caliber revolver before he callously threw the woman out of his room.

The man stared at Richard with a look of sheer amazement. Questioning if Richard had been lying to him the whole time, he wondered if his common sense was simply being put to the test.  He thought to himself, “is this guy some type of jokester, using me to simply while away the time as they waited for the early morning bus?”  He watched Richard’s face hoping to see some indication of truth or at least the slightest hint of prankery.  Instead, what he saw was a cold soulless gaze. Any shadow of disbelief would soon be erased from the man’s mind as his Richard continued the story of that night’s activities.

“After I gave that bitch the what for, I was fuckin hungry,” Richard said with an air of bravado.  “I grabbed supper from Kay’s Pilot House and returned to the tavern.”

 “While I was at the bar,                I saw a group of young girls heading up 100^th street,” Richard said has he stood and pointed.  Richard explained to the man how the girl’s laughed and giggled as they made their way up the darkened street to their townhouse. “I crouched down in the bushes across the street and watched them,” he said as he demonstrated his stance. “I started to masturbate in the bushes as I watched them undress in the window,” he said proudly. “Then they started talking to me, they sent messages to my head to come over; I could hear them in my head calling my name”. As he spoke, the captive listener could hear another distinct change in Richard’s speaking voice. The storyteller’s tone became one of utter disdain and hatred for the subjects in his tale.  As Richard spoke, the listener now recognized the psychosis in the man that had held his attention for so long; even worse, he realized that every word of his story was the absolute truth. Worried about seeming inattentive and turning Richard against him; the man acted more attentive than ever.

Oblivious to the man’s anxiety, Richard continued his story with a sense of renewed vigor, “I ran across the street, man I’m telling you, they were talking to me straight into my brain, and I knew it was them.  The broads told me to use the window so that’s what I did, I only wanted to burglarize the joint but the chics were in my head telling me how they wanted me.”  Richard then pulled out a knife and illustrated his next move, “The first chic screamed and played dumb, so I gutted the whore with my blade. The next broad came in so I choked the shit out of her, that’ll teach them about playing with people’s minds.” The man, now frightened to the core, sat wide eyed and speechless. Fully engrossed into the reenactment of his wickedness, Richard continued for at least another 20 minutes with his street side testimony. He explained in full detail how he took the lives of seven nursing students.  Richard concluded his monologue with the vivid description of his violent sexual assault, torture and murder of the eighth young woman to die at his hand that night.

The sun was beginning to come up as Richard closed the story with the man. Not knowing what to say; truthfully afraid to say anything the man simply sat and looked and Richard. He then began to crack a smile as he hoped on all that is holy that Richard had simply made the whole story up. He was just about to commend Richard on his story telling ability when he heard a blood curdling scream followed by "They're all dead! All my friends are dead!" The man turned to where he heard the scream. In the distance he could see a woman running and waving her arms wildly. At that moment the man froze, it dawned on him that he had just listened to the confession of a heinous murderer. A question arose in the man’s mind. “Is this guy about to kill me too?  Afraid to turn around but refusing to die from an attack to the back, he whipped around.

Astonishingly, the man was gone, the only thing remaining was the stench of old alcohol and dried blood. The early morning summer sunrise glistened off of the bus stop sign; a sign that read, ”no service between Midnight and 6 a.m. Aghast, the man stood mesmerized that for the better part of 3 hours, a guy named Richard had given him a confession of his murderous rampage and was now gone. The man abandoned his travel plans and returned home. When his wife asked him what had happened and where had he been, the man simply replied, “I had a Speck that wouldn’t go away!”

Richard Speck

Omaima’s Egyptian Spare Ribs

Normally I don’t do food criticisms; however in my efforts to seek out subject matter for my second book, I found a little lady fits whose criteria fits perfectly for inclusion in my little blog of depravity. So get out your pens and paper and get ready to take notes as we cover the secret recipe for Omaima’s Egyptian Spare Ribs.

Born and raised in Egypt, Omaima Nelson immigrated to the United States in 1986. Soon after her arrival in the U.S., Omaima began caring for children of various households as a nanny. Slender with olive skin and bedroom eyes, it wasn’t long before a photographer noticed her and she began working part time as a model.

Omaima underwent a series of dysfunctional relationships with other men. In October 1991 a 23 year old Omaima was out for a night of fun and relaxation at a local bar, while shooting pool she met a 56 year old pilot named William Nelson. A whirlwind courtship ensued and in a matter of weeks the couple married. Acquaintances of the couple describe the two as ordinary love birds in respect to their relationship. However, on Thanksgiving Day 1991, the theme of the day would be anything but ordinary for William “Bill” Nelson & his wife Omaima.

On Thanksgiving 1991 Omaima Nelson repeatedly stabbed her husband Bill with a pair of scissors in their Costa Mesa apartment. Mrs. Nelson then proceeded to beat her husband with a clothes iron other objects until he died. Normally, death is the embodiment of the end, but for this true tale of the macabre, this is only the beginning. Later Omaima would claim that she was raped and beaten and that the crimes were in self-defense, however, evidence shows that Bill Nelson was tied securely to the bed during the onslaught.

Omaima at Parole Hearing

After making sure that Bill was indeed dead, Omaima proceeded to dismember her husband’s corpse. Blending portions of the corpse with the day’s Thanksgiving meal; she forced body parts down a garbage disposal unit that she kept running for hours after the murder. Omaima boiled Bill’s head, fried his hands, attempting to destroy his fingerprints and skinned his torso and lower extremities. Remaining body parts were stuffed in garbage bags as she appealed to ex-boyfriends to assist her in the disposal of them. To add insult to injury, she castrated the corpse claiming she’d done that out of revenge for the abuse he had inflicted upon her.

The climax of the evening came when Omaima donned her red hat, red stilettoes and red lipstick. She then proceeded to cook the ribs of her murdered husband, barbecue style.  "I did his ribs just like in a restaurant," Nelson is quoted as saying. She said she sat at the kitchen table with Bill Nelson's cooked remains and said out loud, "It's so sweet, it's so delicious. . . . I like mine tender," she reportedly admitted to the court psychiatrist.

Omaima Aree Nelson was found guilty of 2^nd degree murder on January 12, 1993. She was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison. Omaima first became eligible for parole in 2006, but was denied when "commissioners found her unpredictable and a serious threat to public safety." She became eligible again in 2011, but was denied by the parole board again, citing that she had not taken responsibility for the murder, and would not be a productive citizen if she were freed. She will not be able to seek parole again until 2026.

The Windy City's Worst Team Ever...........The Chicago Rippers

Earlier today someone asked me if I had begun working on my second book as of yet. “No,” I responded, I went on to let them know that I am still investigating and researching various topics within the true crime genre. As an ex-criminal and true crime author I am normally not shocked by the articles, biographies and documentaries that I utilize for research in my works. That is until today; I was researching the potential links between H.H, Holmes and Jack the Ripper and came across a group known as the Ripper Crew or The Chicago Rippers.

The Chicago Rippers

Comprised of Robin Gecht, Edward Spreitzer with brothers Andrew and Thomas Kokoraleis, these men are suspected to be responsible for the disappearance of at least 18 women from the Chicago area in 1981 and 1982. During their time of operation, the group would drive around in a van looking for prostitutes to sacrifice in Gecht's apartment. Led by Gecht; these four men raped, tortured, mutilated and killed prostitutes throughout Cook & DuPage counties. Afterwards they would remove one breast from each victim and eaten it as Gecht read passages of “The Satanic Bible”. It has also been said that they, after severing the breast, took turns raping the open wound. They then proceeded to each masturbate into the flesh of the breast, chop it into pieces, and devour it. When the ritualistic behavior was done, they would dump the corpse and proceed to seek out their next victim. In 1982 Beverly Washington, a twenty-year-old prostitute, was found near death alongside some railroad tracks. Despite being raped, slashed, and having her left breast severed, Washington survived to give a description of her attacker and the van she was taken in.

The men were arrested in 1982. The Kokoraleis brothers and Spreitzer confessed their wrong doings in full gory detail. Each of them hesitated to involve Gecht in the crimes, some speculate out of fear or because of the sheer control that Gecht had over the other men. Gecht attempted to escape punishment by offering an insanity excuse. The strategy proved somewhat affective initially and caused a mistrial but that would not be the case in the second trial which began on September 30^th, 1983. The jury found Gecht guilty of attempted murder, rape, deviate sexual assault, aggravated battery, and armed violence.  He was sentenced to 120 years in prison. When asked why he was not convicted of murder, the jury cited the lack of hard evidence against him.

Tommy Kokoraleis, 23, attempted to block his confession from being admitted into his trial, but lost.   He was convicted in 1984 and was sentenced to 70 years in prison. Andrew Kokoraleis was tried in two separate counties for his crimes. After being tried, convicted and sentenced to life in the first trial he too attempted to recant his confession in his second trial. This strategy proved futile as he was sentenced to death. On March 16, 1999, 35-year-old Andrew Kokoraleis was executed by lethal injection at Tamms Correctional Center.  Also sentenced to death, Edward Spreitzer's sentence was commuted in George H. Ryan's last-minute commutation of all death sentences in Illinois in 2003.

The true accounts of the murderous exploits of these men were shocking. The devil truly is in the details of the crimes perpetrated by this group. A more shocking fact is that we share the planet, country, state and city with individuals of equal if not greater levels of depravity. As we carry out our day to day activities, we must make a commitment to ourselves, as it is our obligation, to look out, not only for ourselves but for each other. Not living in fear but being aware of our surroundings makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the devil to touch any one of us.