A small crowd of people huddled together at dusk on Alexander Platz in East
Berlin staring at the ground watching intently. A few were scanning the
passersby looking for police. Every so often there would be a small groan, or
an excited yelp to declare triumph! It was illegal, of course. These con-men
stole money from the innocent just as surely as if they'd put a knife to your
throat, except that their theft was non-violent...usually. I mean, if someone
got upset enough and attacked, then the con-man was sure to have his back up
within easy reach. They always worked in groups, but I didn't know that at the
time. Who was who? Hard to tell. But you can be sure the man with three hats
had a lot of friends, even if he didn't use hats.
When I saw them, they always used match stick boxes and the ball was always
just a little wad of paper or a rolled up candy wrapper, but it worked plenty
well anyway. I'd never seen someone work that game so well before. Surely you
have seen it at one time or another. In
cartoons, they always use big cups or bowls. The person working the bowls has
three of them and only one ball and is supposed to move the bowls around so
quickly that the onlooker loses track of where the ball is. When asked to
choose, the onlooker gets it wrong because the three bowls moved around so
quickly. It is always drawn in the cartoons as though the bowls are just a
blur, but no one can move bowls so quickly that they become a blur.
The funny thing about the three hat game is that the bowls don't move quickly
at all, and they don't have to be moved around very many times,
either...because the trick isn't in the speed of the bowls. The beauty of using
matchboxes and a little wad of paper is that the paper is small. When I first
saw them playing, I had thought that the whole trick was in that they used cups
with velcro in them, or that the game was played on a table and the ball was
dropped out from under the cups by being moved over the edge of the table. But
in Berlin, they play on the ground, and they'll let you inspect the match boxes
to show you that there isn't any velcro. There is no trick (as far as you can
see). And, sometimes people win! So, it must be an honest game, right?
That's where the shill's come in. The guy moving the boxes takes the ball
out from under the box when he first puts the box down. Then he puts it back
when he lifts up the box he wants the ball to be under. The speed comes in how
quickly he sweeps his finger under the box to get the ball out, or in the
angles. I'm not sure. I've never been able to do it convincingly (although I’ve
never been interested in putting a lot of time into getting good at it). All I
know is that if you watch them play for a while, the people who lose look like
they must be complete morons. And, when the people win, it doesn't look like
they're any geniuses, either. The boxes and ball are just not moving that
quickly. So, it looks like a piece of cake. But, somehow, when I tried it, even
though I was sure I knew where the ball was, it wasn't there when the guy
turned the box over. One of the onlookers shook his head and told me I needed
to step on the box with the ball under it and turn it over myself so that the
con-man couldn't pull the ball out when he turned the box over. But, even though
I was sure I had the right box, the ball still wasn't there. What about the
people who won? Those are the shills. And the people who lose who look like
complete morons? Those are often shills, too. The con-men work in groups: they
have the spotters, the bodyguards, the people who are designated to lose and
those chosen to win. Of course, it is all fixed ahead of time so that the
innocent onlooker thinks only stupid people lose and you don't have to be that
smart to win. So, playing should be easy money...except that it isn't.
Now, if you were brought up being taught about all the ways people can con
each other, then maybe you'll think people like me are just really stupid.
Anyone who doesn't already know how that type of game is played deserves to
lose their money. But, that isn't the point. In college, I earned two degrees
with three majors in four years. Two of those majors are in natural sciences
with lots of math. I'm not stupid.
A few years ago, I was bitten by a dog. It didn't take my arm off or
anything drastic like that, but it did leave a scar. The funny thing about it
was that I saw the dog coming at me. I had been in a stand off with the dog for
several minutes and it didn't attack until after I thought it had lost interest
in me and I started to back away. If you've read enough of my other blog posts,
you might know that I spent several years practicing Aikido (a Japanese martial
art) when I was younger. Before that, I had spent several years learning
western style fencing. Before that, I had spent several years as a wrestler.
I've had my fair share of fights between the three of those sports. I'm used to
things coming at me quickly. I don't say any of that to brag, but rather to
emphasize that until you've seen how quickly a strong dog can move when it
wants to, it is hard to even imagine how fast it is. I saw the dog coming at
me. I pushed it away to try to protect myself. I never saw or felt it bite me.
But after I pushed it away, I was bleeding.
The human eye can only see things that take longer than about 1/20th of a
second. That's it. Any faster than that and things just disappear: a finger
under a matchbox or a dog snapping its mouth shut.
2Cr 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Hab 2:4 ... the just shall live by his faith.
Pro 12:20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of
peace have joy.
Prov 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads
to death.
What counselors are you listening to in your life? Is there someone by you
telling you to just step on the match box and you’ll win, or do you work harder
than that to figure out who to trust? Do you trust your eyes as the final
arbiter of truth? Is seeing believing, or is there more to it? I'd love to hear
your comments.
