The other night I stopped by the store on my way home. At the back end of the parking lot was a lady with her hood up on her truck. I stopped and asked if she needed any help. She mentioned she ran out of gas. I pulled off and thought about how I could get her some gas as my gas can was at home. I mentioned that to her and she said she had enough to get to the gas station. I told her to follow me and I could get her the gas. She seemed a little put off, closed her hood, walked to her truck and stood there for a moment. I asked her if that’s what she wanted to do and she replied she would just wait for her mom she said she had called. I left, went to the store and on my way out I saw her with her truck hood back up. Another scammer.
I am willing to help people out – I believe that is our calling in life. Yet there are people out there that try to take advantage of others. When people ask me for something, be it food, gas, part for a car, etc., I will look for a way to get them exactly what they are asking for. If they are truly out of gas they will be appreciative if I give them gas. If their car is really broken down they will be grateful when someone offers to get them the part. It’s only the scammers who get mad when you offer the product rather than cash. This is how I avoid the pitfalls of scammers.
It’s easy to become jaded when you work hard for your limited means and then have others ask you for it without being truly in need. We need to take safeguards (like the one mentioned above) to ensure we don’t become jaded. For there will come that one time when someone is truly in need that we can act on. It happened to me a few years back. A guy had car problems and I offered to get him the hose he needed. We went and I bought the hose and he was putting it on when I left him. Not a scammer, just a guy who needed a little help.
In pursuing our better selves there should be a tendency to help others. The trick comes in making sure the others are in true need. This isn’t always an easy thing to do but we should never stop doing good because of scammers. Always be nice but be smart.
Attempt it. Chance it. Try it. Get to It!