I noticed that some of our members are living in various areas of Florida.
This is going to be sketchy because I don't have too many specifics.
However, for women readers, here's a scam to beware of. And even for clergy to be able to stave off such a disaster before it happens, it is wise to be aware of the warning signs of this emotional and usually financial tornado.
This con-artist game apparently afflicts all areas of the state. Presumably, however, the larger cities and areas where tourists and visitors flock for the winter.
If you are any age, even up to 80, maybe 90, watch out. Florida is now crawling with what are now called "romeos". These men pretend to be searching for their soul mates [this term is often employed by these scam artists, to great success, unfortunately]. They somehow find the unattached woman. Perhaps her husband has reposed recently and she is left in shock, and not thinking clearly. Or she went through a messy divorce. [ Let's hope none of these apply to Orthodox parishioners in Florida ! ]
But it could really be any woman caught at a stressful moment in her life when she has very poor discernment due to stress or preoccupation with some subject of worry. Hence, she could be savvy in business or work life but still get caught by the "romeo" who has staked her out as the next prey.
I am mentioning this because the tendency will be for most people to shrug "Surely smart me would never fall for THAT..."
But it's surprising that many may be tough in their work lives but in their private lives, throw any and all good sense to the winds.
A side example would be the former Oregon Governor - a big liberal - who paraded around with a woman who was discovered to have earlier contracted a false marriage with an Ethiopian student so he could get a US visa, in return for pay.
A big scandal, but one wonders why a seasoned politico would fall for someone who would do that and never confide in him about her big indiscretion which would damage his career if it were found out. Which it was.
So, it works both ways. In Florida, however, it is often the wealthy widows or visiting businesswomen from the East Coast who may not know the lay of the land who are targeted. Often they have no social base or social connections and end up with highly dubious men buzzing around them like fireflies on a summer night.
These women end up handing over to the slick con-artist all their money and lose perhaps their health and certainly their emotional stability. Often their entire lives are ruined by having trusted such a person who must have looked shady but the woman glossed over all the undesirable things about him, having been put so deeply under his spell.
Apparently, it is such a hazard for residents of Florida that women attorneys and others in the legal system who have seen so many of this type of case cross their desks say that they won't 'date' at all. These women refuse to take any chance because the odds of running into a "romeo" are so high. They agree that these men can fool anyone, including judges, lawyers, professionals of all types. Advanced degrees are useless in defending oneself against these frightening sociopaths.
Well, maybe some of the non-daters could start a TOC Convent when they retire ! It might be in fact not a bad idea for some of the victimized women to make good out of the rest of their lives, instead of what usually happens in such cases :
the victim can not get over the betrayal and mopes for many years after, sometimes taking up bad habits to dull the pain.
Notably, few, outside of others who have been scammed the same way, comprehend the romeo victims' inability to let go of the disaster and move onwards. Thus, the victims have almost no support usually amongst their close circles.
Convent life would give these fractured souls the structure, peace, calm and serenity they desperately need to recover. Just an idea which could work either in Florida or any other part of the country where people have been the targets of sociopathic/ narcissistic abuse, as it is termed. The "romeo" scam is one branch of this larger 'devil tree' of deviltry.
