way he would be more cautious and hopefully not try to drag me in to be his next victim. If he thought I may be getting wise to him, he might leave me alone. But if I had been so forthright as to state “I know you’re dealing in stolen property” that would open up new possibilities – receiving intimidation maybe? Maybe if he knew I knew he was a thief, if something went wrong for him, he might look to me to blame – might suspect I had informed on him, and may subsequently want to punish me. Of course the right thing to do with crooks is to turn them in, but it is safer to do so if they don’t know that you have sussed them out.
When you have sussed them out, but they don’t realise it, then you can start laying traps for them. This customer criminal started asking questions about my neighbours, when they were going away and where they kept their car – all in the most delightful chatty manner. When I saw him next time I made sure I had made up some other imaginary people. I told him my girlfriend was at home waiting for me – then he would not be able to judge if my house was empty just by checking for my car. I had no girlfriend back then. I also told him I car shared with my Mum; again so he couldn’t judge where I was from the car’s location. This I did hopefully without him knowing I had sussed him out. I also slipped it into the conversation that I kept my computer in an office away from my house, so he wouldn’t be tempted to raid my home for the gear.
The thing is, if the crook knows you have sussed them out, then not only are you potentially open to intimidation or whatever, they will also spread their poison against you in other ways. They will go to the naïve people who they have successfully duped and spread poison against your character, in order to protect themselves, and before you know it, the evil which you have got too close to is acting against your goodness. Be an enemy of evil yes, but it is often more effective not to let evil know you are its enemy. And the poison will spread, your character will be assassinated even though it is good. The imbalance of good/bad perception is proliferated – good are seen as bad and the bad pass themselves off as good. And if you approach those good people who have been duped by the bad ones, they may well be so convinced that the crook is actually a nice person, that they will dislike you more for suggesting otherwise – truth persecution. So then you may find yourself in the awkward position of having identified an evil person, but not be able to protect their victims against them, as their victims are so totally taken in by the evil manipulation! Oh what jolly fun!
I could have played other cards perhaps, I might have made up a friend who has just got out of prison for GBH maybe? But playing games can be dangerous, play the minimum cards necessary then get out. Don’t get dragged in to their world. And certainly don’t become one of them. So my previous run-ins with crooks had become positive experiences. Dao. Grow wiser and stronger from all experiences including and especially those which seem to be bad. I had been empowered by the criminals I had met previously. But fear complacency. To become egotistical is to allow one’s self to be open to attack. When we take pride in our abilities our guard falls.
When I returned home after sussing this new crook, I made sure one or two key people were informed about his true nature, and we were all then further protected.