Last week, I was reviewing classified ads on Craigslist, an activity I undertake on a relatively frequent basis, as I like looking at what cars are available so I can drool in private…  One poster had put a message in his ad specifically targeted at the Craigslist scammers, which seem to be rather prevalent in the autos for sale arena.  Essentially he said that he didn’t even want to post on CL anymore because the scammers irritated him so.  Having posted a few vehicles on CL in the past few months for sale, and having been the recipient of a few scam offers (one of which went so far as to send me a bogus cashier’s check), I can understand his fury.

I think though, what irritated me the most is that scammers are taking away an important piece of life, or at least, our outlook on it.  That piece they’re taking away is hope.  And here’s where the second half of my title comes into effect.  I tend to think the best of people.  I tend to be overly trusting.  I think that probably has something to do with the fact that I hope that people are generally good.  I hope that when I deal with somebody, they are being honest with me, as I am being honest with them.  And LUCKILY, I’ve found that seems to be the case with the people I’ve dealt with on Craigslist in general.  We’ve sold 2 cars, an XBOX 360 and a Wii gaming system lately, and in all cases, the people we’ve sold to have been extremely fair.  I hope that I have been seen as fair in their eyes as well, because I try to be.

Unfortunately, there are those people out there who are trying to make a quick buck, and are willing to destroy their reputation (and the reputation of other unknown people) by taking advantage of other people.  My wife tends to believe most people are of this ilk.  Granted, she’s lived a harder life than I have and has run into more of these hope-stealers, so that may color her outlook. 

Nonetheless, something we seem to be missing in this country, especially over the last year, is hope.  There are those who wanted very desperately for Barack Obama to be elected President, because they thought he represented hope for better things.  Honestly, even though I didn’t vote for him, I still hoped that he would be a good President and lead the country well.  The jury is still definitely out on that, but I think the rejuvenation of hope was a positive thing.

I think hope is fundamental to happiness in general.  As I go throughout life, I find that those people who have hope for a better future, whether in small things or large, tend to be happier.  They have a reason to be happy, for they have hope that things will be even better in the future.  There’s a step then to be taken from hope to faith.  Hope is the cornerstone of faith.  The scriptures tell us that faith is to “hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”  That hope helps us understand that life is much bigger than just today, and that we can shape our tomorrow.

If you look at children, one of the key things that make them so happy and full of life is that they are FULL of hope.  I hope that I never crush my children’s hope by telling them something is impossible.  They need to have that hope to make it through these tough times.  They need to have hope that the people that they encounter are typically good people and hope that they will be positive.

So scammers, quit stealing peoples’ hopes.  Quit making it so frustrating to do business with each other.  Quick being the kind of people my wife thinks populate the earth.