Taken In

I heard someone say recently “he who cannot be fooled, cannot be delighted.”  Sorta rang true with me.  It seems to me to have much to do with vulnerability.
I have never forgotten how in the Nania series in the last book the Dwarfs were neither on the side of Tash’s army (the baddies) or Aslans side.  They fired their arrows into both camps.
I remember being outside of my home at night in Townsville when someone came into the yard.  When I asked what they were doing I was so surprised at how quick they were with a response seemingly legitimising their actions.
It seems there are those practiced in the ways of evil and good.  Good at both but all the while refusing to be “taken in.”  They give all sorts of reasons why something presented to them is rejected.  Even when it is reasonable.  These ones have determined that they won’t be fooled.  They reject what is legitimate on the basis that they refuse to be “taken in.”
I think such thinking leaves a person prone to missing out.  When something good comes alone the heart is covered by something that lets nothing – good or bad – in.
I will never advocate blindly accepting something, but I don’t reckon all things are to be rejected.  I may be prone to misreading evil intent as a result, but I am ready not only to be appalled but to be amazed.
I have heard it said that the same sun that melts the snow hardens the clay.  I want to be one or the other.  I do not want to be someone who has a protective coating that neutralizes any hardening or melting.  I heard ages ago, but it is a bit of a mantra for me that, “saying nothing is saying no.”  When I am in a position to legitimately ask if someone can do something and I receive no answer, I take it as a no.
A person who refuses to take sides takes sides by doing nothing.  As they say, “the way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”  In any matter no decision is a decision.
I do not like being fooled but I like being delighted.  It is a chance I am willing to take.