Over the past few weeks I have written about my experiences as I endeavored to help a friend negotiate the maze of deception involved with email scams and to extricate himself from the muck of his own naivete or stupidity –the latter if I am being honest, the former if I am being kind. As one might imagine, there are many life lessons waiting to shape or re-shape the character of those who chance to slip or stumble; however, one feels a sense of greater frustration at the apparent weaknesses inherent in both the individuals trapped in this network of deceit and the framework that allows it to flourish or does very little to discourage it.
Fools do rush in where angels fear to tread. We may do yeoman’s work in the service of others but we cannot save anyone from himself: so much of truth is what one wants it to be; and, in its service one may be ill equipped to comprehend the limits of one’s imagination. Sadly, there are very few among us who undergo a transformation similar to Dickens’ brilliantly drawn character, Sidney Carton; the far, far better thing we do is more likely to be self-serving than selfless. Our fallibility may lie less with ignorance than our willingness to assume the pretense of it: greed may have companions, but it stands on its own.
The failure of the machinery of government to come to the aid of those in distress has been painfully highlighted by the tragic errors associated with Hurricane Katrina. Ruefully, the degree of indifference or ineptness is not limited to extraordinary events or calamities; it extends to the daily lives of anonymous citizens, demoted from importance at the end of a politician’s campaign. Cynical? Perhaps. I’m batting nearly zero with government officials, elected, appointed, and otherwise, in my efforts seeking aid and/or advice regarding the case of email scam that I have mentioned. Only Howard Coble’s office responded to my inquiry, although the response itself seemed rather disingenuous and self-serving as it sought primarily to establish that I was in Howard congressional district. I am so one would think I’d at least get a follow-up to my initial email, being a registered voter and all! I have no illusions of an easy fix or a simple answer. The point is it’s not even about courtesy; it is his/her/their job, especially those who are elected officials.
As Rosanne Rosanadana said many times on SNL, It’s always something.
