I didn’t share about The five times I got mugged growing up most of my life because I thought everyone had similar experiences.

I knew we spent a few years in a particularly economically depressed neighborhood. I sensed it was one of the highest-crime areas of Philadelphia. Still, most of the times happened after we moved from that neighborhood.

The time I got sucker-punched by random kids waiting for a bus was coming home from Philadelphia’s premier public high school — Philadelphia’s Stuyvesant, to compare it to a better-known school. It was broad daylight.

What fraction of people get mugged? I thought it was a part of growing up. I thought everyone got mugged at least once, maybe not at knife point, but at all. I thought at least a lot of people got sucker-punched or threatened with a stone or wrench waved in their faces by the leader of a gang of kids.

I’ve asked people lately and have been surprised to hear answers like 5%. I thought nearly 100%. That’s a big mis-calibration.

Have you been mugged? I’m trying to get a feel for what’s common. And how to make sense of these experiences.

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