Skeptic

I consider myself a New Englander. After all, I’ve spent almost all of my adult life here. But I grew up in New York City, and my parents were skeptical New Yorkers. When I traveled north to New England, I took that daily habit of looking twice or three times at things with me.

The skeptical habit saved me from pyramid schemes, assorted bunko, con artists, and cults. But of course, it didn’t save me from everything.
We can’t examine everything with a magnifying glass—we’d never love, have friends, or have exciting experiences if all we do is over examine everything. Some risk will always be there.
I have known people who take things too far. In saving themselves from being cheated, they’ve also saved themselves from much that is interesting and adventurous in life. The opportunity is gone by the time they decide it’s safe to jump in.
I think it may have been Aristotle who said that the wise learn from the errors of others, but the fools make the mistakes for themselves. It’s a matter of experience and education. My parents’ example taught me about economics, politics, fraud, and outrageous activities like cults. I learned little from them about relationships and stumbled through a painful learning process.

The unknown always beckons, and it’s a foolish person who yields too easily or not at all