Before we leave the taken-for-granted safety of our homes each day, we should think about the image we are projecting to the world and also what we are doing that might be observed in a negative way by someone who has a different view than we do.

In the case of the mother and daughter shot recently, I'm afraid someone made a horrible mistake. Were they trying to rid the world of lesbians in their stupid way of thinking? What would they have felt when they would learn by the news media their shot had taken life from a mother and daughter?

It seems the days no two women can be seen in any activity - even mountain hiking.

I, also, was shot at, along with my daughter, the past week as I sat on an Access bus. My mistake was using transportation that, evidently, it was not wise for me to use.

I have felt for a long time there was a problem so I have been cautious and not relied to frequently (on Access). As I rode, I would see people standing on the curbs looking at me. As I sat in the window looking at them, I could imagine what was on their minds.

My neighbor had already expressed the same attitude when I boarded the bus for my journey. The same look on their faces!

Now I will have to find another way to travel.

I can't ask my husband to drive me. He works and does not take time off. My daughter can't drive me. She had to give up driving for health problems. At 90 years of age, walking to the Metro bus is not an option for me.

What other issues might someone be trying to solve with a gun out there? As I sit at home at home thinking of the loud noise I heard on Access bus with the glass disintegrating just a foot or two from me, the fragments falling on the floor in front of me, I wonder how can I go anywhere now?

Before I leave my home, I will wonder will anyone out there take issue with me, imagined or otherwise, trying to eliminate me with a gun as a solution to some problem they are imagining. The time has come when we all must think about this. Someone out there might be looking at us more closely than we know.

I will never consider relating to my daughter in any personal manner in public for fear someone will misunderstand.

I will also not use Access to go anywhere.

Harriet Warkentine

Charlestown