Experience

Judging character? I’m a big believer in two things: listening to others’ experiences and learning from my own. I don’t buy the dogma that some people are fluent from birth in the language of deception and can always sidestep deceit. Learning from others and your own experience can assist you in building a sharpness that allows you to see through the curtain that film-flam artists, psychos, and weirdos learn to weave.

Everyone can be conned

I learned a lot in the sixties about how cons work from the descriptions of bunko schemes that our almost friend John described. One involving Christmas cards involved kids peddling them door to door. The cards you actually received weren’t what you saw, they were incredibly cheap and nasty. The moral of that story was that really savvy people got taken in.

Shit happens

More violent things just happen. We are in the wrong place at the wrong time. And sometimes we can’t avoid getting sucked in. Through hard experience, I learned that companions who were perfectly rational while sober could turn into trouble after a few drinks. Have you misjudged their character? More importantly, what do we do? Cut out? Try an extraction from a violent exchange? Maybe the circumstances dictate what you do in the moment. But what you do in the morning after is the critical thing. Cut your losses by admitting that Sue, or Charlie, is not someone you want to drink with. Learn.

Who Me?

So am I a good judge of character? Well, I’ve survived, and I avoid many pitfalls I might have fallen for years ago. And the blog outlines a number! But one thing I’ve learned is that caution in judgment is always good, and he who hesitates probably avoids stepping into a bear trap.

So put that in your pocket! That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!