Gluttony & Gullibility

First, the Gluttony, Pope Gregory’s sixth of his seven Deadly Sins, right after Avarice and right before Lust. After reading about the meals most American had yesterday and all the Back Friday shopping stampedes, I think Gluttony and Lust should both be moved up to the head of the line. My wife and I were part of the food lust with a delicious but maybe too bountiful a meal at our daughter’s house. If the bird felt stuffed with stuffing, so did we. I know I ate about four times as much as my stomach normally allows. The overeating might be forgiven if it came only once a year, but the number of really fat Americans suggests that overeating happens almost every day. What can’t be forgiven is what happens on this truly Black Friday, the lustful buying and buying of “stuff” that we Americans feel not only that we need but also that we deserve. I just read that the average American will spend nearly a thousand dollars on holiday shopping. What? I thought in my review of The Edge of Seventeen that people from other countries might mistakenly believe we’re all as rich as Croesus. Our Black Friday shopping only reinforces that image. We need to practice the sixth of the Seven Virtues, Temperance in food and drink and shopping for “stuff.”

Now, the Gullibility. I got an e-mail a few days ago supposedly from James Comey, head of the FBI. I’ll reprint only the first two paragraphs to show you how ridiculously written this letter is. And it makes me wonder if there are really people out there who would fall for this scam. They would be my best example of Gullibility. Here it is:

Attention: Beneficiary

We hope this notification arrives meeting your good health and mind. We the FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI) Washington, DC in conjunction with some other relevant investigation agencies here in the United STATES of America have recently been informed through our Global Intelligence monitoring network that you have an over-due payment in tone of US $25 million USD with Federal Reserve, NY which was fully endorsed in your favor accordingly by the UNITED NATIONS (UN).

It might interest you to know that we have taken our time in screening through this project as stipulated on our protocol of operation and have finally confirmed that your payment/transaction with Federal Reserve is 100% genuine and hitch free from all facets and of which you have the lawful right to claim your fund without any further delay. Having said all this, we will further advise that you go ahead in dealing with the Federal Reserve, NY accordingly as we will be monitoring all their activities with you as well as your correspondence at all levels.

It goes on to say we should contact samson.potter2@aol.com. I’m sure if I went there, Mr. Potter would want me to confirm my bank account number so the $25,000,000 could be transferred. Or maybe he would need my social security number to verify my identity. Is it actually true that there’s a sucker born every minute?