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When I was a young adult, I had the good fortune to go on a date with a guy I hardly knew. We were working at a national park at the time, and we drove for nearly an hour through the wilderness to get to our date destination. It was an uneventful date, and frankly, I wasn't as interested in him as he seemed to be in me. He started buying me trinkety doo-dads and visiting me at work. He wanted to help me buy a car, which seemed like a kind of boyfriend-y thing to do, and that made me uncomfortable, especially since I didn't really want to buy a car. My friends thought he was amazing though, so I decided to give him a chance (by this point, I was beginning to doubt my own taste in men.)
One day, a couple of weeks later, he vanished. Imagine my surprise when I found out that he was a con artist, and that he had bilked many of my friends out of their hard-earned money. He and his wife were wanted in several states. His wife had been doing her own thing in a neighboring town.
The impact of that story didn't hit me all at once, but throughout my life different aspects of it have left me reeling in fear. First of all...thank heavens he was just a con artist. I was alone with him in the middle of nowhere, and so many more terrible things could have happened. I also began to wonder about everybody I dated. Were they just conning me too? I remember being scared to death the night before my wedding that my too-good-to-be-true husband really was too good to be true. I don't know what I thought...that he was marrying me for my money? (Hahaha)
But lately, the story of the con-artist I once dated has taken on entirely new connotations in my head. What if, (heaven forbid) my own children are as stupid and naive as I was? What if they put themselves in dangerous circumstances and aren't as blessed to have it turn out OK? Please don't let lack-of-common-sense be a genetically inherited trait.
I don't think that was a lack of common sense. I really don't. I think you have to generally trust people UNTIL they give you a reason not to.
ReplyDeleteSome people are just assholes... live and learn..but don't let that change who you are! :)
Wow what an interesting story, I wonder what is motive was with you? I wonder if they ever caught him and/or his wife now?
ReplyDeleteThey never were caught, at least as long as I followed the story. I imagine his motive with me was just to ingratiate himself to as many people as possible. I worked with some older people who had more money than the people my age. I guess. Or perhaps I was just irresistable. Yeah. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :)
DeleteI was absolutely struck buy how grateful you where that he wasn't anything worse than a con artist. Honestly what a great outlook!
ReplyDeleteThat is a very scary story. The thing about con artists is they have a lot of experience fooling people, and I don't think you should blame yourself for trusting someone.
ReplyDeleteHow freaky! I'm glad he didn't hurt you or steal your money!
ReplyDeleteWow! Hope you are allright now.... :)
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