Madam
Secretary and Chemistry update
On life and love after 50 newsletter
February 5, 2016
Tom P. Blake
Madam Secretary
Champ Mark emailed, “Do you watch “Madam Secretary” on
CBS Sunday nights? A main story line in the latest episode (January 31)
involved the swindling of an older man via an online dating site, and how that
played a major part in his suicide. The writing in those scenes was taken from
your columns, or so it seems.”
I told Mark that I did not watch that episode, but
Greta did and told me about it. I answered, “Doubt if it was taken from my
columns, but preventing romance scams from happening is one of our goals.”
After Mark’s question, I went online and watched it. In
the episode, Madam Secretary’s husband’s father was the older man. He was
lonely and went on a dating site. A scammer trolled the site and made contact
with the man.
The scammer sent a picture ostensibly of herself, but
it was taken from the Internet of an actress in Hollywood; the old man framed
it and put the picture on his mantle. The scammer told the old man that she was
too busy to meet him in person for the time being, but needed a loan. He gave
it to the scammer, thinking he was helping the pretty woman who loved him.
When he discovered he’d been scammed, he committed
suicide by taking an entire bottle of hydrocodone, a dangerous pain medication.
An investigation revealed that the scammer was the old
man’s friend, a man who lived
nearby. In the episode, that man scammer came to the house to give his condolences to
the family. Later, the scammer was arrested.
The episode did not get into a lot of details about the
scam. But, the messages were clear:
-Anybody can be anybody online. Do not trust
anyone until you meet in person and get to know that person well
- Do not send money to someone you’ve never
met unless you don’t expect to get it back
· - Don’t fall in love with an image
· -Meet the person face-to-face as soon as
possible
Thanks to Champ Mark for reminding me of that episode.
Chemistry update
You may recall that last October we ran two
consecutive newsletters on the subject of chemistry. A male Champ shared with
us that his girlfriend of four months told him she didn’t feel chemistry toward
him.
The following week, we included 20 responses to
his situation. Most Champs, but not all, felt he should move on. The feeling
was, at his age, why waste a lot of time?
This week--3 ½ months later--he emailed an
update: “Last night was our last date. I still don’t ‘light her fire’ and she
doesn’t want me to waste my time on her and wants me to find someone who will
fill my needs.”
He hopes she will change her mind. He added, “I
just can’t erase my feelings for her and move on. I loved my girlfriend of
three years in high school…I loved my wife for 50+ years and still do and
always will…I also ‘loved’ this lady knowing full well where it could end.
“So, it will be awhile, if ever, before I try
the dating scene again.” He is now 73.
But, is he really done with her? He added, “We
have three more event tickets to the venue where we saw Travis Tritt last night
and it’s likely we will go as friends.” So, he still keeps hanging on, although
it was their last date (as boyfriend/girlfriend).
This is a nice man. I checked him out online and
he has a successful business. I just hate to see him go through more pain by
taking her to three more concerts. I wish he could take someone else to those
events. His situation reminds me of words from Garth Brooks’ song, The Dance: I could have missed the pain,
but I would have had to miss the dance.
Not only is finding a compatible mate difficult
after 70, but once you do, dating that person isn’t exactly a snap either.
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