Long ago, in a place named Serendippo, a King had the highest of hopes his 3 princes would have the best of everything. However, He couldn’t just simply leave his sons with power and wealth, he must also instill the virtues important to the delicate balance such a position requires. Education being the most important of these virtues. The 3 princes excelled academically and the royal tutors were pleased. The King tested his sons and proposed he live in the shadows and relinquish his throne. Each prince declined, praising the King’s wisdom and ability to rule. While it pleased The King, he felt the princes’ education may have been entirely privileged and sheltered. Or maybe he figured they were full of shit, I mean not one wanted to take his throne? Either way. The King pretended to be angry and cast the Princes away from Serendippo for some real life experience… The 3 Princes were indeed wise, but it was their skills in observation that had served them well thus far. The 3 Princes knew how important education was to their father, but they also knew of his desire for perfection. The Princes observed The King’s penchant for vanity and saw how their father could never admit failure or fault. The Prince’s knew if one had accepted the offer of the Throne from The King he would have been insulted, instead they received a free vacation. Simply by attention paid to the world around them. After a long voyage, The 3 Princes arrived in a foreign land and became keenly aware and familiar with their environment. Taking it all in; from the dirt beneath their feet to the air above them. They walked and watched, listened and smelled. The Princes saw a merchant who said he lost his camel. The Princes asked if the camel was lame, blind in one eye, missing a tooth, carrying honey, butter and a pregnant woman. The hopeful merchant asked where they saw his camel. The Princes said they had not seen the camel or the woman. Thieves! the Merchant charged and brought them before the Emperor. The Emperor demands to know how they can give such an accurate description despite having never seen the animal. Each Prince explained: Grass was eaten from the side of the road that was less green, the camel must be blind in one eye and unable to see the lush grass just steps away... Bits of grass littered the road, the camel had clearly lost some of his meal through the gap from a missing tooth…. 3 feet made prints, the fourth made a path; flies on one side and ants on the other could be from none other than a lame camel dripping butter for the ants and honey for the flies. Nearby was a wet patch of dirt near footprints and a handprint. It was urine where a pregnant woman must have used her hand to get back up after relieving herself. Unbelievable! Just then the trial was interrupted by a traveler who had found an old lame camel wandering the desert and the pregnant woman nearby. The Emperor spared the Princes and made them his advisors, lavishing them with riches. The Princes lived an adventurous life and enjoyed many fortuitous endeavors. Opportunistic observations? Or just damn lucky? Serendipity was the word Horace Walpole wrote, in search of a word to describe a fortuitous accident. A description of accidentally finding something amazingly beneficial, while looking for something else completely. Serendipitous fortune. Is it just Lucky in Life or Make your own Luck? Coincidence? Fate? Or could it be manifested through clever and acute observations? Some may say it’s intuition, and intuition can’t really be separated from general observation. At least not scientifically. Observation can be tuned and learned, but can Intuition? Even the best poker players rely on a little luck as well as their observations and acting. Reading people isn’t just for cards. Sometimes it’s a seemingly natural skill that you can find in people with PTSD or past traumatic experiences. In that sense it’s a defense mechanism that can be attributed to hypervigilant personalities. They know the outcome of situations and identify danger quickly based on interruptions in learned behavior patterns. Observation is really an entire mental process in which knowledge is produced. The Godfather of Neuroscience, Wilfred Trotter said “ “Knowledge comes from noticing resemblances and recurrences in the events that happen around us,” For centuries con men and women have used opportunistic observation to mark their victims. Gaston Bullock Means was one of America’s most notorious confidence men. J Edgar Hoover called him”The most amazing figure in contemporary criminal history”... I’m gonna tell you the story of how he tried to swindle my great great grandmas rich uncle out of millions and got away with murder. INTRO - Welcome to Little Crimes on the PrairieThis podcast is written and produced by Kristi (That’s me). I’m making some gradual changes to the show, so please bear with me as I make those ...
