Posts Tagged: pickpockets

“Warning! Cautionpassenger Approaching!”

On July 26, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I receive a wonderful word-of-the-day each weekday from the site https://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html.  (You can and should sign up for this free daily e mail as well.)

This week’s words are “tosspot words”.  Tosspot words, according to Anu Garg, are compound words made up of a verb (which occurs first) and a noun.  The noun must be the object of the verb.  (There are other definitions of the word “tosspot.”  These include a person who drinks too much, or anyone who does anything objectionable.  It is one of those wonderful British all-purpose insults.)

Today’s word was “cutpurse,” which in an old word which means the same thing as “pickpocket.”

Anu told a wonderful story of going home to India as a university student.  He was on a train.  Several men gone on the train at a station.  One of them warned young Anu that he needed to be very careful.  There were a lot of pickpockets around.  Anu patted his billfold, which was still there.  When he got off the train, it wasn’t.  Apparently, the man who had warned him about pickpockets was the pickpocket—or cutpurse, if you will.

Anu came up with a wonderful tosspot word for the man who had warned him and lightened his load: “Mr. Cautionpassenger.”

This set me to thinking, not so much about words, as about reality.  It may be that the people who are warning us are the real danger.  Often people who are wanting to warn us about things may be the very perpetrators of the thing about which they are warning us.  (The Apostle Paul warned us of the same thing.  You may read Romans 2:1ff. for further details.)

Watch out for those who warn you to be careful about your investments.  They may be about to sell you fraudulent stocks.

Watch out for those who warn you about liars.  They are probably lying to you.

Watch out for those who warn you about sexual misconduct.  They are probably on the make.

Be ware of people who warn you about people who warn you about people.

Be ware of all “cautionpassengers.”

We seem to live in a time when everyone is warning everyone about everyone.  The liberals warn us of the conservatives, and conservatives warn us of the liberals.  The Republicans warn us about the Democrats, and the Democrats do the same concerning the Republicans.  Those who like to think of themselves as “independents” may be the biggest cautionpassengers of all, since they warn us of everyone.

I think that the real issue underneath the issues is fear of our own fear.  However, those who encourage us to fear others, no matter who the “others” are, may be the real danger.

This danger is two-fold.  On the one hand, we ourselves are easily manipulated by fear.  On the other hand, we try to manipulate others with fear.  We are all, at least in some measure, “cautionpassengers.”  And, of course, this blog is a warning against all who warn you of things.  Thus, my posting of this both illustrates and violates the very thing I am warning you about.

If we cultivated within our own selves deep integrity, we would not be as prone to manipulate others by their own fears.  We might also be less prone to allow cautionpassengers to manipulate us with our own fears.

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