(crumb) Judgement for our weakest moments
There is a lovely line in Ted Lasso, among other lovely thousands, which I will try to reproduce off the top off my head: "I hope none of us, or all of us, are judged by the actions in our weakest moments." This is a hard-hitting line even in the vacuum devoid of the show's context. You are welcome to reflect on your weakest moments and recall the consequences of the errors you wrought. You are also welcome to not think of it; I do not wish to bring you pain.
The Elizabeth Holmes documentary is coming out, and I am having some thoughts. It is very easy to shrug off responsibility or concern when you or a person you care about was not entrapped. It is easy to blame the victims of a scam for being too stupid or too careless. It is too easy to mount on your highest horse, and ride it into the sunset of higher grounds. Even though you might have honed yourself through years of internet and cumbersome corporate trainings, it is very likely that someone in your sphere of love or influence is a fallible being. If you cannot think of someone like that, that concerns me about your circle.
The victim of a scam could be a simpleton who never learned the ways of the world, but in most cases, it is a person who let their guard down. One who was preyed upon, at the weakest moment in their life, where the only light of hope was the flame that devoured them. This is one of the reasons why victim blaming is a dangerous concept. It levels the playing field for the victim and the perpetrator, and imagines a world where all choices were possible. But if we know that someone was at their lowest, when they were taken advantage of, we would give them more grace.