"Welcome to the school of Hard Knocks!"
That's what they would say to Flying XY.
Three hundred yuan and a cell phone is maybe a high price as tuition to the school of life, but then the lessons taught there, and learned early in life, can save much money, trouble and heartache later in life.
XY says she is ashamed of her innocence. Innocence is nothing to be ashamed of. Even I was innocent as far as my belief about society in China went. I had always visualized, for many years, a society where all worked for the common good and everyone would be helpful. I knew that this did not work out in East Germany, but then they did not have a "Mao". Now I can see that people are people, no matter where they live. In some parts of the world there is a tendency to blame the U S A for this. Well, all of North America and most of Western Europe are affected with materialism. And scams are one of the side effects.
Dear XY, do not hate the cheaters. Look upon them, in your case, as the Professors who taught you a valuable lesson. As to hoping they will be punished by the Law, you may have a better chance in China than anywhere else on earth. It is just too widespread and too many peole are involved. Every year people in Canada lose millions of dollars to the West Africa Scam. In it money is offered to be brought to Canada for illegal payoffs of corrupt Government Officials. "The Mark" (the person being scammed) is promised a large percentage of the retrieved funds. But first they have to pay fees, etc. Enough said. Even though this is so widely publicized the scam lives on. They change the story a little from time to time. This one sucks in people who will cheat a little in order to get easy money, and who end up being scammed.
I was scammed when I was 19. I worked during a festival in an amusement park, as a Beer Waiter. In the afternoon off period I wandered over the fair grounds, and came to a booth with dice games. I was enticed to throw the dice without paying, just to see how the game worked. After I theoretically won three times in a row, I put my money down. To make a long story short, in less than half an hour I had lost more than two days' wages. That was my tuition as I have never gambled again. I think it was a bargain.
Even my father, a learned Doctor of Agriculture was scammed by a man with a bicycle. He came to the house and claimed to be a friend of the tenant upstairs, a lady who was absent at the time. His bicycle needed tire repairs or replacement before he could go home to the village. He wanted to borrow some money and my father advanced it. The next day the man called on the tenant while my father was out. Now he gave the same story, but claimed friendship with my father, and assured the lady that the Doctor would guarantee the loan. He also promised a home made village sausage for the favour. Of course, he never came again.
When my mother heard about this she was at first annoyed, and then bought from the market two such sausages and gave one to my father and one to the tenant. She said with a smile: "I ran into the guy from the village. Here is your sausage!" But it was a joke. Many years later, whenever that kind of sausage was served at the table the story of the clever villager would be retold.
We all learn in the school of life. 'Abdu'l Baha, our teacher, told us to be kind to the stranger, and help. This is what XY did, and she can be proud that she was kind-hearted, but conditions in the world are such that now we must direct those in need to the proper channels or authorities.
Best wishes to all,
Uncle Ben
