It’s easy to get absorbed in this little corner of the world known as Northeast Michigan.

Woods and water make for easy living after a day’s work, and there’s plenty of ways we can take full advantage of each over the four seasons.

They say “a view of the bay is half the pay” Up North, and life is good. Darn good, in fact.

I understand why it is easy to get lulled into a false sense of security.

And, with that, I understand better these days why there is a tendency for us to exhibit isolationist tendencies here.

It used to drive me crazy when people who I viewed as knowledgeable often groused about expanding U.S.-23 northward to the area. While I and others saw the economic and safety benefits such an expansion would bring, another set of people bucked the expansion because they liked life just the way it was, thank you very much.

And, to some degree, perhaps they were right.

With more traffic comes more problems. It is a lot easier to get Up North, say, to Gaylord from Detroit on I-75, than it is from Detroit to Alpena by traveling the last 100 miles on U.S.-23. And while it is true that perhaps a community like Gaylord, then, is going to be exposed to more potential crime, we need to remember we are not immune from crime here, as well.

Sometimes, I think it is too easy to believe bad things won’t happen in our safe and cozy corner of the world. Unfortunately, however, a four-lane highway is not the final determination of whether or not crime is going to occur.

And, like it or not, we all have learned over time that bad things can happen anywhere.

In fact, because of its location “off the beaten path,” perhaps it is actually easier for bad things to happen here.

Evidence of that is the trial this week of Brad Srebnik.

Srebnik is on trial for the deaths of Brynn Bills and Abby Hill and the testimony thus far has pointed to how drugs played a large part and in fact were at the center of the relationship between those three and another man, Josh Wirgau.

Wirgau previously reached a plea deal with prosecutors for numerous charges related to the two ladies’ deaths. Even with the plea deal, he still faces up to 30 years in prison for the charges.

Srebnik denies the allegations against him.

The testimony in the trial paints a sad yet realistic picture of how quickly lives addicted to drugs can spiral out of control. And, in a world where evil and good are in conflict with one another, if evil prevails, it doesn’t take long before we discover just how ugly circumstances can get.

If you didn’t know better, listening to the testimony in this trial, you would think the evil that occurred happened in some third world country in another part of the planet where people had no morals or laws.

It makes me sad.

May it serve as a warning to each of us to never let our guard down just because it looks like paradise outside.