These Are The Good Old Days

"Mess over me once, shame on you. Mess over me twice, shame on me!" You have probably heard some version of this saying, and that version may have been more profound or more profane.

The saying makes complete sense. If someone knowingly sets out to take unfair advantage of you, or steal from you, or lie to you or cheat on you - I think we could all agree the individual is not a "nice" person. I think we could expand that to say they are not ethical or honest either.
Most pastors would agree that this person is not following the dictates of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Most psychologists would agree the individual might have a personality disorder; maybe the individual could be narcissistic or even sociopathic. Most Law Enforcement Officers would identify the individual had exhibited criminal tendencies. Most folks would just determine this is someone we don't want to be around or have around us.

You, on the other hand, would simply be classified as a victim. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says this about the word victim.
It is a noun; it comes from the Latin word victima. A victim could be Top of Form 1: a living being sacrificed to a deity or in the performance of a religious rite. 2: one that is acted on and usually adversely affected by a force or agent (the schools are victims of the social system): as one that is injured, destroyed, or sacrificed under any of various conditions (a victim of cancer), (a victim of the auto crash), (a murder victim) or one that is subjected to oppression, hardship, or mistreatment (a frequent victim of political attacks) or one that is tricked or duped (a con man's victim). In other words, it was not your fault.

We covered the first part of the saying, but now let's deal with part twp. The second says, "Mess over me twice, shame on me!" Maya Angelou once said, "When someone shows you what they are - believe them."

Yes, people make mistakes. They can realize their mistakes, they can repent, and they can make amends.

Some folks however, confuse an isolate incident of bad judgment, bad thinking, stupidity or ignorance with a pattern of misbehavior. Notice I said a pattern of misbehavior - not a pattern of behavior. Behavior often has isolated incidents of bad judgment, bad thinking, stupidity and ignorance.

Misbehavior however; most often is based on purposeful acts intended to hurt or subvert another person. It also has the intent of providing some benefit to the misbehavior. The benefit could be financial, sexual, emotional or power based.

Why then if you are again victimized is it your fault? Because you knew the scorpion!
There are several versions of a Native American proverb dealing with trust. Sometimes the villain is a scorpion, sometimes a snake, sometimes a coyote. Usually, the hero is a young Indian boy on a vision quest. The weather turns cold and the young boy is freezing. The scorpion, snake or coyote asks to share the blanket of the young boy; but the young Indian says, "No, you will sting me, bite me or eat me!"

The beast assures the boy that it would not make sense to do any of those things. If they shared warmth, they would both benefit. Convinced, the young Indian agrees; but after only a few minutes, he is attacked by the beast. "Why?" the boy screams knowing he had been betrayed. The beast smiles and says, "But you knew what I was before I attacked you." In some stories the victim is a rabbit or turtle swimming across a river. The bottom line is the victim is betrayed by the beast.

Now let's relate this to our lives today. Do you have someone in your life that continues to cause you problems? Do you have someone in your life that continues to use and abuse you? Do you have someone in your life that continues to steal from you? Do you have someone in your life that continues to spread drama and unnecessary conflict throughout your life? That is your fault - not theirs!

People are usually pretty smart on a one-to-one basis. Societies, on the other hand, have a tendency to lose their minds. For example, the current economic crisis occurred because of a lack of oversight, criminal behavior and a complete disregard for the welfare of their clients, companies and even the country. That was the fault of the people in charge. That was their fault and shame on them. Shame on the folks and Fannie and Freddie! Shame on the Big 3, shame on the UAW, shame on those in Congress that purposely failed to do their jobs - SHAME ON THEM!

Shame on those that criminally conspired to milk their companies, mismanage retirements and pension funds; that lied to the public; that created this "bail out" mentality and told us it was necessary and had to be implemented IMMEDIATELY. SHAME ON THEM!

They were like the scorpion or snake or coyote; unfortunately, we were the young Indian boy! That means now it is our fault. We put those that were in charge - back in charge. We put the foxes right back in the hen house. We have allowed those that created the problems to go unpunished. We are being told some companies are too big to fail.

How many times do we have to be lied to before we call someone a liar? How many times do we have to be cheated, before we call someone a cheater? How many times do we have to be bamboozled before we call a spade a spade and a thief a thief?

I know, we're not supposed to say things like that. We could hurt someone's feelings; damage their legacy. We could be called radicals or even racists. Certainly, it will be obvious that we are not as smart, progressive or as high thinking as those individuals.

We accept false science (Global Warming); we accept false accounting (the Bail Outs). We accept social programs that don't work (welfare for illegal aliens) while ignoring facts and figures that show us these and other programs don't work. Illegal immigration is not even considered to be illegal by many of those we just watched run for our highest office.

If you think it is bad now, if you think you have lost monies from your retirement funds or your investments, if you think things are crazy - be of good cheer! In the months and years to come, these will be the "good old days"!