Christmas can cause strain on the brain
Finding time to shop, pay off last year’s Christmas debt and finding just the right Christmas gifts can offer even the calmest reveler no cheer. The Christmas season can cause serious strain on the brain. Scientists say that too much thinking on a subject can be a conduit for the brain to lose glucose.
Excessive thinking isn’t required if people park where there’s proper lighting and never leave anything visible inside their car. Drivers should know before they leave a building where their car is parked. Their keys should be in their hand, and their eyes should not be buried in their cell phone. People who don’t have their head in the game are destined to become victims. Criminals are less likely to attack people who walk with determination and those who are aware of their surroundings.
Many shoppers understand that moving and locking a car that contains any visible merchandise to a different parking location is a wise decision. But how many of those same people remember to lock their doors at home? A holiday can motivate homeowners to leave their front door unlocked so that family and friends can enter. They don’t think about criminals entering their open front door to permanently borrow anything that isn’t nailed down. Unfortunately, criminals don’t take holidays and they have been known to crash family gatherings. So, if cooking demands too much attention, someone else can be assigned to answer the doorbell or a knock at the door.
Criminals strike more during the holidays simply because there are more victims to prey on. For many people, holidays mean busy, scurry, hurry. People hurry so much that many get sick. They think too fast, they talk too fast, and they act too fast. They rush against their internal clock and feel the stress of buying presents, cleaning their house, cooking and preparing for company. If the slightest indication that a problem is on the horizon, they become frustrated. When they add party schedules, heavier than normal traffic and last-minute shopping, some people are busier than a newspaper editor behind schedule. What that means is that some people are too busy to look out for themselves.
This hubbub creates an atmosphere where many more people become victims, and many more criminals become prosperous. Criminals are ingenious at devising ways to take possession of the money in people’s wallets. They are masters at creating believable gimmicks to make sure that their wallet is thicker than anyone else’s. With their pockets full of cash, they might say “hee-hee-hee look at me,” because their jolly will be happier than Santa’s “ho-ho-ho.” Remember the old adage, “If it feels too good to be true, it probably is.”
Lessons learned about shopping during the holiday season are good lessons to be remembered all year. Chip readers have reduced fraud in many traditional stores, and more people are shopping from the comfort of their home. This, however, just gives criminals more opportunity to take people’s prosperity from the comfort of the criminal’s home.
Many people give more during the holidays, so criminals create phony charities in hopes that givers will voluntarily and quickly give them their hard-earned money. Criminals earn money the easy way, they con, scam or swindle it. If more people were street wise, fewer people would become victims. The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance — give.org — is a great place to find out if a charity is legitimate. They also track legitimate companies that offer “Letters from Santa.”
Some people hear the word “Free” and they go bonkers. They are free to love, to like, to hate and to choose, but physical objects are not free. Even buy, one get one items may seem free, but companies are in business to make money, not lose it. The cost of any free offer is legally passed on to others. Criminals illegally take things for free without sweat or struggle. Many never face legal sanctions, captivity, or have to make any financial reimbursements.
Everything we see may be legitimate, but we must look out for ourselves, because we can’t expect others to do it for us. Presents left in plain view of a home’s front door or windows are presents waiting to be stolen. Boxes left on the curb that advertise what gifts have been received are a personal invitation for criminals to target that home. If people want to hear the traditional ring-a-ling this Christmas season, they should not start the season by being a Christmas ding-a-ling.
Charlie Sewell is a retired Powder Springs police chief. His book “I’d Rather You Call Me Charlie: Reminiscences Filled With Twists of Devilment, Devotion and A Little Danger Here and There” is available on Amazon. Email him at
retiredchiefsewell@gmail.com.