National ramblings

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

I’m not sure what you think should be the prevailing sentiment? Should everyone be depressed and boycott the entire hobby because there are some shady people doing shady stuff?

Of course I am pissed! That being said this is a hobby for me and most people here and it is essentially an escape from my stressful daily life. I always have and always will enjoy my cards, regardless of the fact that there are douche-bags in the world. Brent and others will not take my enjoyable hobby away from me as I would still collect if the cards had little to no value.

I think a lot of people are changing the way they collect because of this debacle and that is probably a good thing. Eventually this will “blow over” in some way but exactly what that means remains to be seen. Personally I would love for Brent and others to be persona non grata in the hobby and not be part of it but again time will tell.

For a lot of people the National Convention is their “going fishing with the guys” type of thing that has become a tradition and every year they go and do this and get to leave their cares behind. Why would they not go do their favorite thing because some people are a**holes?

Extremely well said, Rhett! Your "glass-is-half-full" approach is most refreshing! Having retired almost 12 years ago, card collecting no longer serves as the escape from work pressures it once did. But, now days, card collecting is just as beneficial to me, as it keeps me much more mentally active than mindlessly vegetating in front of the TV would.

I began my working career as an auditor way back in 1965, and I quickly learned the importance of the adage, "trust, but verify," which I have attempted ever since to incorporate into all aspects of my life. While it's impossible or very difficult to verify many things, I am sure this approach has saved me from being scammed many times.

I strongly believe that our hobby will not only survive this scandal, but end up eventually being better because it happened. Hopefully, the bad guys will "get what's coming to them," and the good guys will have even greater success. I refuse to take the alternative, "glass-is-half-empty" approach!