Who is That in the Mirror Anyway

I'm a suspicious kind of person, I guess. Have been for a very long time. And the tendency has only gotten worse as I have gotten older. Don't really much like it. But it's a matter of self-preservation, you know.

The sad thing is that despite all of my suspicions and doubts about virtually everything, I have not been immune to playing the fool. Which only makes me more suspicious.

I suppose my family taught me to be that way first. They who loved the practical joke. Anything to make someone look and feel foolish. When you played the fool in my family you got no sympathy anyone. Even Daddy and Mother laughed. In fact, often it was Daddy or Mother who put you in position to be the fool.

It was meant in fun, but it didn't always go over well. And the absence of the reverse - positive reinforcement - only made it worse.

As a child I learned a big lesson: Don't trust a good thing. It's a trick. You will look foolish.

I have also had my share of people who have feigned friendship with me in order to use me, get something from me, or just make me look stupid. Men aren't the only ones with "one thing on their minds", and women aren't the only ones hurt when the truth comes out.

The result, of course, is that I have some incredibly wonderful people in my life who I don't entirely trust. Not because of them. But because of a past filled with people who weren't so incredibly wonderful.

Not trusting others, fearing them even, means not being involved when fun things are happening. I rarely attended parties or things of that nature. And when I did I usually sat alone and watched. Still do that at family functions. I'm an observer. Not a participant.

A few times I have joined in, and usually I have had a good time. But for whatever reason, these memories are not enough to inspire frequent attempts to repeat.

I have also been victim of more than one financial scam. When I was doing well, had a job that paid very nicely, money in the bank, etc., I laughed at the scammers and shook my head at those who got scammed. How could they be so stupid? Well, now I know. It isn't so much stupidity as it is desperation. To use sports terminology, it is the Hail Mary pass at the end of the game. It's throwing the basketball (as opposed to shooting it) from 80 feet away.

Yes, playing the fool does make us wary the next time. But it also makes us wary of a good thing and good people when they come along. And if we're too wary they just keep going.

I don't particularly like being afraid and mistrustful. At the same time I don't particularly like being a fool. But my real concern is this: What is that is exactly what I am?

Preying on the Poor

It's amazing what desperation does to a person. Even otherwise intelligent people suddenly become fodder for every scam artist who happens by. And after a few burns the warning flags begin flying high even when no scam is involved.

Got a telephone call last evening. I forget who the guy identified himself as, or his organization. But he said he was calling because we were finalists for a Home Makeover. Had I been thinking clearer I should have kept him on the line and tried to get more information from him, such as how and why we became finalists in something we never signed up for. Instead, I just informed him that we no longer had the house. We lost it about forty days ago. And what a pity, because the house certainly needs a makeover.

He seemed quite depressed and apologetic, and with an apology he said goodbye and I hung up.

Could it have been real? I don't know. I know of the show but I never watch it. Don't find that kind of thing entertaining. But it didn't matter because we no longer have a house.

We've received many calls from people saying they represented organizations which very much wanted to help us. Ultimately, they would ask for money. Now let's examine this rationally. I tell you I have no money. You wish to help. So what do you do? You ask me for money. What's wrong with this picture?

And yet it is hard not to believe these people. Why? Because in a desperate situation one is willing to suspend all disbelief in order to make things better. Rational and logical effort have produced nothing. Why not try the ridiculous? At some point in time you get the feeling you have two chances to die and only one chance to live. And if that one chance is a one-in-a-million chance, so what? What other hope do you have?

Scamming people who are safe and secure (in their own minds and emotions) is difficult. It requires great charisma and quality acting with believable accoutrements. Scamming the poor only requires tapping into their desperation. They know they're being scammed, but they're too desperate to care anymore.

What kind of person does this to the poor? The financial rewards certainly are pitiful, so it has to be something more. Simply proving how foolish people can be. That needs no proof. You might as well try proving the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Politicians use this tact to get elected and reelected. They keep telling us why we need to be afraid of what will happen should they not be elected. That the dire consequences they predict are no more likely to occur than the wonderful promises they offer does not enter most voter's thoughts. They're just desperate not to have things 'go bad'.

We have all been desperate at least a few times in our lives. Some times with high stakes and some times with low. But we all know what it is. And I doubt that any of us like it.

And we're not keen on the predators, either.