Proverbs 29:5 - The African Con Artist

I can't remember the exact day, but I remember the exact place. My wife and I were walking south of the Galileo Museum in Florence, Italy where it faces the Arno River. An affable, African man was walking the other direction and paused only long enough to comment something like "nice beard" in English. It was enough to make me stop on the sidewalk. I had been growing my beard out and trying to groom it nicely, so it was rather flattering that someone noticed. He pointed out the obvious that he had a beard, too, and so I returned the compliment. 

He asked if we had children with us. He didn't seem overly familiar but genuinely interested. Maybe because it was because he pulled out his wallet to proudly show us a photo of his young daughter.

He also pulled from his pocket a simple bracelet made from black twine. It had one decorative bead. "I want to show you friendship" was the explanation as he put it on my wrist. Then he put one on my wife as well... and wanted to give us some for our adult children. We politely declined and decided it was time to move on. But as we started to step away, he held out his hand, "Those will be five Euros each." When I tried to give at least one of them back, he refused. He said he needed the money for his daughter. 

I finally just gave him a  five Euro note, even though he leaned over to peer into my wallet to see how much I had. He left with a huff and a scowl as if he'd been robbed of honest profit. I looked more closely at the bead. It wasn't ebony; it was plastic. An African in Italy, passing off a Chinese bead to a gullible American. How international!

Once we'd been conned, we watched other tourists being approached with the same offer of "friendship." The smart ones declined immediately, the others listened to the whole spiel and paid for whatever flattery had been offered.

For me, it all started when I let flattery appeal to my pride.
"A man who flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his steps." Proverbs 29:5 (New American Standard, 1995)

Give me humility, Lord, so I'm not taken in by flattery from others. For my part, teach me to give sincere compliments that build people up and that don't use them for my own benefit. Amen.

Photo credit: https://www.museogalileo.it/. The museum is the building on the far right.