Fool You Once ....

Please don't mind while I do a little venting. I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, this has gotten me in trouble more than once. This makes me sad. Saturday as we were on our way to a movie, we got in a car accident. The driver made an illegal U-turn right in front of us and with no time to get out of the way we hit him. He was so nice! He apologized over and over again and begged us not to call the police. I knew this was not a good idea. But he was so nice, and so sorry. His car was in much worse shape than ours. Again, I suggested we call the police. I tried to get people to take pictures. No one wanted to do either. Peter was also very nice and understanding. The guy gave us his insurance information and promised he would call them right away and admit he was at fault. He apologized several more times and we let him go. I really thought he would do as he said, after all, he was so nice! I know what you're thinking, and sadly enough you are 100% right. :( Did I mention how nice he was?? He called his insurance company all right. But he would not admit he was at fault, so they will not pay. They seem to think Peter should have been able to read his mind and avoid hitting him somehow. And of course, with no police report, how can we prove otherwise? Yes, it was really stupid of us. We tried to be nice, and instead we got taken. How sad that you can't take people at their word? I remember a time when I lived in Tucson and a well-liked college professor had turned up missing. They found his body in a field. He had stopped to help some "stranded" motorists, and for his kindness they took him out in the desert, robbed him, and killed him. I hate that we live in a society where you can't trust people anymore. It makes me very sad. Fool you once, shame on them! Fool you twice, shame on you! I learned a valuable lesson, but I don't want to let this one dishonest guy keep me from having faith in others. That's no way to live either. Shame on him!