2007-12-20

The inevitable destructive path of one act of thoughtlessness

Here's an interesting blog post over at Pen and Spindle.

On a somewhat different but not entirely unrelated story, years ago someone I know was committing Visa fraud. He even asked me if I wanted to buy something since it was "free." When I told him he was a fool for participating in the racket (I told him he would get caught and he eventually did) he said it was no big deal because, get this, Visa had millions stashed away to pay out Visa fraud financial fallouts.

So it's all good in the end the way he saw it. He steals the Visa number, buys himself a TV and the card holder gets compensated thanks to the emergency fraud treasury.

Idiot.

What he failed to factor into his hopelessly selfish calculation was the emotional stress caused to the person and the financial burden placed upon the financial system over at Visa.

It's this kind of lack of coherent thinking and insisting to not follow things to their logical end that lead people to dead ends.

Yes, it's hard to defend a credit card company. While the invention of credit has made liquidity more "flexible and fluid" the other darker side of the coin is that it keeps people buried in debt as they are constantly encouraged to use their "cards." Then again, a smart, responsible person will resist temptation. But hey, Eve had an apple...

Guess who pays for all the stealing? You and me. That's why, in part, fees and interest rates are so high. One act of criminality has no bearing on the system. Many acts has a chain reaction that is paid for by honest people.

One snow flake in itself melts and has no weight. Many snowflakes bound together can bury a city. One cup of water nourishes the body and soul, a tidal wave can eradicate a city.

This applies to how we protect and preserve history.

We're quite the short sighted species.

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