Blind devotion

You know how some days kinda have a theme?  For me, today is charisma day. 


First this morning Paulie and I entertained the delusional idea that we wanted to check out recreational vehicles.  How convenient that just 30 minutes from our house is the regions' biggest and baddest seller of RV's.  Big ones that go for a million dollars.  Little ones, too, but even they cost more than what we paid for our first house. 


Enter Jimmy.  Tall and handsome; over-groomed for my personal style.  Western attire, shades tucked into his button-up shirt.  Make that unbuttoned up and showing a little skin.  And lots of cologne. I mean a lot, but a pleasant scent.


Jimmy has charisma.  The kind that lulls you into agreeing with everything he says. His office walls are filled with memorabilia from his days in Vegas working with all kinds of fancy people.  He even has a picture with Mohammad Ali.  That is impressive. Thirty minutes in and he and Paul were speaking the same language, practically answering each other's sentences. Good thing we had a time limit on the visit or we might have caught a horrible case of buyer's remorse. We escaped. 


Later in the day I run over to our neighborhood Walgreens to pick up a script. While there, I wander into the cosmetic aisle, and minding my own business, I hear, "How are you doing?"  Crap.  I know that voice.  It belongs to the Walgreen's cosmetic lady who always gets me to buy stuff I don't need or want. How? Charisma.  But it's not like you can compare a 70 grand RV to a $15 bottle of foundation.  Like she said, I could use the extra SPF and she gave me a coupon for it, too.  Man she's good. 


Unfortunately today I also had the displeasure of reading in one of the local newspapers, the Dallas Morning News (4.18.2015, front page),about a charismatic leader of a tiny religious cult. The leader, a 49-year-old woman, convinced parents their 2-year-old son was demon possessed and they should not feed him.  He starved to death.  It's mind blowing.


Charismatic people, by definition, "exercise a compelling charm that inspires devotion in others."  This sick leader apparently oozed with compelling charm and used it against a small following. 


That leaves me to rethink today's theme. If charisma requires participation from another, maybe a better word theme for today is gullible, as in one who is trusting, naïve, innocent, simple and green. I  understand how easy it is to cave in to others, as in buying stuff you don't need.  However, I really need to better understand how parents can stand back and watch their child starve to death.  Certainly they were trusting and naïve and blindly devoted.  And scared and uneducated and likely selfish.  The perfect gullible storm.


In this case, the ghastly imperfect gullible storm.