P.C.

It’s been a while. Stay with me, because this trip we are going to take today isn’t the most direct route to where we will finally end up. We won’t be taking the freeway. We’re taking side streets, dirt roads and sidewalks. But it will make sense at the end of this conversation.

Words mean things. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and they use a word that sounds like they were the Mongolian Scrabble champion? It sounds great, but for some reason that innate sense inside you tells you it doesn’t quite fit. It doesn’t feel right. It feels like a phony attempt by someone to impress you with long words.

You’re not the Lone Ranger. In fact, this is a malignant tumor in the security profession. I have been involved in countless conversations with executives and senior leaders in which they have said something that leaves you scratching your head like you just contracted a terminal case of dandruff.

Threat.

Risk.

Run, Hide, Fight.

These are gemstones in the security profession. You see, security and law enforcement begin where real life has taken an unexpected turn. In other words, the normal of life has been interrupted by that which is abnormal, either real or perceived. This is not a black and white issue, and it is certainly not confined to the world of security and law enforcement. Threats and risk exist in every area of life. Crime, health, business, the list goes on and on. These words have meanings not only in what they represent, but also in the context and setting in which they exist.

The most painful thing a security professional will ever have to tolerate is listening to someone who uses the terms risk and threat interchangeably. It is intellectually excruciating. It is intolerable. It is professionally inexcusable, and it is dangerous.

Buzzwords and phrases are no different. I have often wondered if some security expert had an epiphany while sitting on the commode when a certain phrase was born. My favorite at present moment is Run, Hide, Fight. Entrenched in this well-intentioned philosophy though are those words: risk and threat.

What is a threat from a security perspective? A threat is something that has the means, opportunity, and potential to harm you. Examples include active shooters, ransomware groups, disgruntled employees with unfettered access to a facility, or a hurricane hitting a data center. Threats are defined by what confronts an individual or an organization. Threat is calculated by capability and intent. A teenager with a crowbar and a can of spray paint is a low-capability threat to a bank vault. A competent thief with an extensive history of high and low tech breaking and entering victories is a high-capability threat to the same bank vault.

Risk, conversely, is potential for loss or damage. Many in the risk management world are equally as guilty with word crimes in this discussion. Risk considers what you or your organization stands to lose. It is the potential for loss or damage based on the existing threat. Risk cannot exist without a threat and a vulnerability.

Vulnerability is the gap that a threat exploits. Without vulnerability, a threat cannot evolve into a risk. An illustration of these terms exists when a burglar (threat) attempts to break into a residence with no alarm or CCTV (vulnerability) and commits a $50,000 theft (risk).

Run, Hide, and Fight attempts to mitigate the atrocity of the active shooter by addressing threats and risks. The threat is the active shooter, and the risk is a mass casualty event, loss of life, or serious bodily injury. Run, Hide, Fight attempts to be the bridge that erases vulnerability.

Numerous organizations have adopted this philosophy when the unthinkable act of an active shooter occurs. It is both a philosophy and a policy directive. In other words, it is a mitigation strategy that attempts to engrain in the panicked psyche the following protocol: I first should run. If that isn’t an option, hide, also known as shelter in place. If those two fail or are no longer an option, then the last option is to fight.

In the event of an active shooter, the first option is to run. Get out! Get away! Use an escape route to get away from the threat, leave your belongings, and call 911 when it is safe to do so.

If you can’t run, hide. Lock and barricade the doors with heavy furniture if time permits after turning off the lights. Silence all phones and disengage the vibrate mode. If you are in a group, spread out and take cover behind solid objects.

The last resort when running and hiding are not an option is to fight. This requires total commitment on behalf of potential victims. This may require a temporary alteration of the personality of a person when transforming into an aggressive person. Improvised weapons such as fire extinguishers, office implements, and furniture should be utilized. There are only two acceptable outcomes when it is time to fight: incapacitate the aggressor and survive.

So far, the idea of threats has been straightforward. In most cases, discussions involving threats envision a bad guy with a gun. But in the real-world, threats that manifest into risks are not only confined to the boogeyman.

I found this out the hard way on March 4, 2026.

The reason for my absence from the blogosphere is a result of the requirement that I face a threat that posed a potentially grave risk to me. That threat is Prostate Cancer.

Try as we might in the professional and academic worlds, strategies and protocols aren’t a one size, fits all solution. Run, Hide, and Fight may work well against an active shooter or a home intruder. It may also work well against some natural threats such as tornadoes. Cancer is another matter. You can’t outrun it, and you certainly can’t hide from it. That leaves you one option, and that is to fight.

We have transformed ourselves into a society where everything must be easy, socially palatable, and not offensive. I have heard countless victims of crime throughout my career ranging from harassing phone calls to violent assaults claim that their right to sovereignty trumps the rights of a criminal to upset their worldview. Philosophically and morally, they are right. The sad reality though is that the regard of one’s sovereignty and rights by a threat is irrelevant.

Threats.

Risks.

Run, Hide, Fight.

You may not be concerned about threats and risks. You may not be interested in mitigation strategies such as Run Hide, and Fight. You may think that threats to your personal safety such as active shooters and diseases such as cancer happen to other people.

You may not be interested in these threats. However, on some occasions in life, they become interested in you.

Prepare and respond accordingly.

That response to the threat that confronted me was to do my own homework and reject conventional advice. I always tried to imagine what it would be like when a doctor enters the room and tells you that you have cancer. Whatever your imaginations may be, forget them because they are pure fantasy based on fear, the unknown, and the fear of the unknown. The real humdinger comes after the doctor tells you, in a sterilized, matter of fact demeanor, that you have cancer. The threat manifests when they tell you what stage you are at, and what options you have at your disposal to run….nope….hide, that’s it….nope…. can’t do that either. The options in front of you are what you will have to do to fight cancer.

The first thing they will throw at you to put in your toolbox is surgery, known in the cancer sphere as radical prostatectomy. They sharpen their blades and pull that sick little walnut out. Easy right? Comparatively speaking, it is rather easy because for the vast majority of men, that stops cancer in its tracks. No cancerous prostate equals no prostate cancer. That is, unless some of the cancer cells escaped and migrated to a local organ such as the bladder, the colon, or the rectum. The side effects of this option are also unpleasant. Even though medical advances have now made sexual impotency after surgery less of a possibility, the risk remains. Incontinence is also a possibility. Yes, wetting your pants as a grown man is a possibility after this option.

The second major option is radiation. External Beam Radiation is the traditional method. This is similar to the radiation applied to other forms of cancer, where it is focused in a generalized area in order to kill the cancer. There is also a method known as Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy, in which highly focused, high dose radiation is applied with pinpoint accuracy to the site of the cancer. That is the option I chose, under the trade name of Cyber Knife.

 If you are a suitable candidate for this treatment based on your circumstances, the journey begins. You will hear that prostate cancer is easily treated. It is, and the cure rate is exceptionally high compared to other forms of cancer. What they do not tell you is that although the disease is easily treated, the treatment is not easy. Stay with me.

The process begins with a surgical procedure where gold pellets the size of a grain of rice are surgically implanted inside the prostate. A barrier gel is also implanted between the rectum and the prostate. Because the radiation is at a high dose, this is done to protect the rectum from the radiation. It dissolves after about six months, and after a short period of time you cannot tell if it’s there.

Now, a second set of tests are completed. A second….or third….or eighth… MRI is completed along with a CT scan. This will coincide with the placement of the gold pellets inside the prostate.

Treatment time is upon you now. Five treatments of high dose radiation are administered by a huge armed robot inside a vault. Lying with your arms crossed on a table and your feet strapped together, a robot administers high doses of radiation that are similar to X-Rays. You don’t feel a thing. I memorized a stained-glass portrait on the ceiling while relaxing to Tool.

After the last treatment, you are left contemplating if that was all there was to it. It feels like you hit the easy button. Then the fun begins.

The first week after the end of treatment is when the inflammation comes for you like the grim reaper running behind on his quota for the month. Imagine the feeling of the worst constipation you have ever experienced, but it persists constantly for several days. The back door is locked, and you can’t kick it down. This lasts for a few days and it isn’t unbearably painful, but annoying and uncomfortable. Urination is also an issue. It will fluctuate between feeling like you are intermittently passing boiling water to feeling like your appendage is being clamped by a pair of pliers.

I was diagnosed with Stage 2B prostate cancer on March 4, 2026. I completed treatment on June 29, 2026. You can’t run from cancer. You can’t hide from cancer. You can only fight cancer, or let it devour you. There is no other choice. You have no safe space.

I want to thank my doctors and care team. The Evil Magistrate is largely apolitical. I don’t take sides. Rather, I poke holes in narratives that are meant to deceive all of us. Indeed, our healthcare system in this country is broken. Why it is broken based on political philosophy and economics doesn’t matter when you are staring death in the eye. I have seen things during my career I wish I could erase from my mental and emotional hard drive. What medical professionals see everyday in oncology units is an unspeakable tragedy. What I witnessed was grace in action, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Cancer, crime, and security. An odd combination. But truth intersects all facets of life. Yes, you may be able to run from a mugger. Yes, you can hide from an active shooter. But the assailant I faced alongside some of you shows no regard for this paradigm. Fight or die. For millions of people, that is your choice.

Judgment:

I affirm.