I do think you are onto something here, John Hopkins. When we are in communities where the players are known, it is easier to interpret what people intend because we have background information. With strangers, the chance of misinterpretation is higher. Where everyone is known, it is easier to know where danger lies. With strangers it is natural to be on a higher level of alert.

You may be able to ignore people in urban settings, but I walk the streets with my antennae up ready to react to danger. As I said to my husband when we had to live in NYC during his mother’s illness, “At home I head out the door with the thought that something nice might happen. Here, I head out the door with the thought that something bad might happen.”

That level of tension, especially when sustained, is stressful for me and makes me “touchier.” That’s just me, but I can’t imagine I am alone in that.