GULLIBLE

Have You Been Fooled?

gul-li-ble:  adj.  easily persuaded to believe something    

If you look closely in the Webster’s dictionary, you might see a small picture of me beside that word.  Ha! I was certainly gullible when I was a  kid.  I was about ten- years-old when my older sister woke me up and told me it was time to get ready for school. I was half way out the door with my sack lunch before I realized it was pitch black out, my parents were still in bed, and my sister was laughing in the stairway.

 I was even duped a few times when I was a young teacher.

“Eeeew, Mrs. Stoneburner,  Jeff’s sick.  He just threw up.”  As I rushed back to help him, a kid picked up the rubber vomit;  and the class laughed hysterically.

And then there was the time I was writing a word on the board, and a red circle flashed exactly where I dotted the i.  I turned around incredulously, “OMG, kids, did you see that?  I must have hit the board so hard it created friction.”  I thought some of them were going to fall out of their desks – laughing -- pointing at the guy with the laser pen.

I think I finally started to wise up after a young man  who ran through our backyard in his bikini underwear was captured  by the sheriff in the river a couple miles away from our house.

I had been working in my garden when he dashed by me and said hello  -- and like a simpleton I just shouted “Hi!” and waved back, not realizing he had left his orange jumpsuit hanging over a neighbor’s clothesline.

As I said in last week’s blog, I have lost  some of that innocence, naivety, and gullibility over the years.

But —  I think there may be a chink in my armor. Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m falling  for products that are too good to be true.  I ordered a bra online for Senior women that I can’t figure out how to put on and some invisible neck & facelift tape that’s too small even for a midget’s  sagging jawline. I think JLo’s liquid botox and Cindy Crawford’s  age spot remover are actually laughing at me every time I look in the mirror.

Oh, and the face for our tree, the automatic hard-boiled egg maker and the authentic grounding mat are just taking up space in the guest room  closet now.

It seems as if there’s someone trying to scam me  every day through phone calls, text or Facebook. I’m getting kinda worried I’ll end up being duped again. I did read an interesting article on NBC News recently about why the elderly are more vulnerable to fraud than anyone else. New research indicates  it may be about how  older brains process visual clues. What?

 Well, I guess — I better keep my eyes open for better protection then. Can you help?

It’ll Be OK.

~~~

“ A fool and his money are soon elected.”  ~  Will Rogers

COMMENT: Please, write about a time you were fooled and send it to me at stoneburnerjan@gmail.com or share it below by next Wednesday, July 19. I’d love to compile your stories into a fun blog — so we can help each other “keep our eyes open.” Thanks! ~J. xoxo