I disliked the public service ad the first time I heard it on New Jersey 101.5 FM. The second time, I hated it.
The spot features whispery conversations between two women, and then two men, portraying transit riders worried about the supposedly sketchy behavior of other passengers.
The worriers opt to call an anonymous terrorism tip line -- one of at least four in New Jersey -- and listeners with similar suspicions are advised to do the same.
But what sounded to me like overwrought overkill last week sounded wise Wednesday morning in the aftermath of Boston, where a person or persons whose malevolence can surely be described as fiendish have taken three lives and injured nearly 200 others.
It really does seem that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.