Aselin

Back in college I studied quantum physics. Since then I’ve had a weird hobby of following some of the latest ideas rooted in chaos theory. All the stuff that geeks love: uncertainty principle, string theory, additional dimensions and parallel universes. Certainly I don’t begin to understand it all, but what I do I find fascinating.

One of the fundamental ideas in quantum mechanics is that just by observing something you influence it. In the science world it’s the idea that the experimenter is a fundamental part of the experiment that changes the outcome. After today, I’m more convinced than ever that this idea has veracity.

This week I was in charge of putting on a program which featured a speaker on self-protection. Besides the discouraging statistics this expert espoused, he bantered with the attendees sharing ideas on ways we can better protect ourselves from everything from home invasion to identity theft. It was heartening when he shared things I had thought of and overwhelming when he shared things I had not considered.

Weirdly enough, after the evening I left grateful for the safeguards hubby and I have put into place.

Then comes check the finances day, two days later. Lo and behold, within 24 hours of the program, someone had stolen our credit card and charged a couple of e-gift certificates for themselves.

Everything was cancelled. Fraud averted. Sense of violation - acute.

This whole identity theft thing is a gyp. I mean, if you are going to steal my identity then you should really have to be me, not just get my money. You should have to pick up dog poop, mop my floor and drive my kids around. This idea alone would discourage the act better than any fraud department ever could.

It’s really a disappointing thing about our current society. So many have come to see their fellow man as commodities, things to buy, trade, steal - rather than people. This is the fundamental motivation behind not only crime but many sales tactics, telemarketing, televangelism, and the porn industry.

If you can’t take advantage of someone then somehow you will lose out. The sad thing is as this idea becomes more prevalent we all lose out. We can’t leave our doors unlocked, can’t give out our number and have to always watch out for other people - the minute you let your guard down you can be victimized, and likely will.

Throughout my life I’ve been ripped off a number of times. Sometimes it was completely my own stupidity. Other times, there was nothing I could have done. It’s just part of life. Either way, after each unfortunate encounter I vowed it would never happen again.

I certainly hope it doesn’t.