pred-uh-ter, -tawr 1. An organism that lives by preying on other organisms.
2. One that victimizes, plunders, or destroys, especially for one's own gain.

prey 1. An animal hunted or caught for food; quarry.
2. One that is defenseless, especially in the face of attack; a victim.
3. The act or practice of preying.

Recently, I was thinking about civil dramas where people actually illegally use law enforcement and civil courts to play games with the lives of others. For example, child custody hearings where a parent will groom one or more of their children to lie about "molestation" or anything to deceive a court. There is no regard for the person's reputation being destroyed. Vengeance is all that matters. What makes people like this tick? Do they believe that honesty will not matter? If so, then the other person was not the issue to begin with. They never admit their wrong, never apologize or try to make amends. In their eyes, what was done to harm and destroy another human was a necessity and they will take the harmful lie to their grave.

There isn't one person on the face of the earth who hasn't made a mistake. It's the people who want you to believe they never do, never make amends, and do all to cover them up that scare the living daylights out of me. Forget Jason Vhorees or Freddy Kruger, they're a serious nightmare to come on any street.

Should we now require polygraphs for all civil and emotional related matters before a large amount of taxpayer dollars are spent on someone's carefully planned revenge? We've recently seen how easy it is to play games with someone's life, from the recent claim against David Letterman by an obviously derranged woman." You'd think counseling would have been recommended instead of accommodating her nonsense. Just goes to show you, with the right words anyone can abuse the civil system, as it's just one person's "word" against another. Me, personally, I never worry about one word against another. The truth will eventually come out in one way or another. You can't be someone else's conscience or make them care. I can only care about my reaction to their nonsense, which won't pay the bills, so the caring lasts about a minute. Or I can write about it publicly and never have to think about it again, while the other person is creating lie after lie to cover up.

On a more severe level, how is that notorious predators can run free forever, while many pay the price for their harmful actions? Take three notorious predators from three different walks of life. One is an active church member, a member of a variety of "southern belle" social societies and organizations, exclusive segregated environments, financially well off with a nice home which she brags about continuously, with kids who are extremely spoiled, snobby and racist, and a husband who provides all the extras she needs. Why would someone who has extreme privileges have to engage in deceptive and destructive practices on a regular basis, and under the fake title of "Human Resources"? Shouldn't she be in blissful happiness and want others to be happy as well? Something in her, when it comes to African-Americans and those not in her "exclusive" class, are easy prey to her. A rich or much richer black person to her is just a "nobody", and could never be part of her "society." Famous black people are "ok" to know of, as long as she knows ahead of time they're famous, otherwise, the door gets slammed in their face first. She can sit in church weekly professing love for "Jesus," but throughout the week, engages in so much wrong towards people who wouldn't even know she existed if not for the harm she does.

Then, there's a known LGBT male who claims to have had such a difficult life from hiding his sexuality from others, therefore, has to treat others viciously. Wouldn't the nicer and honest route for acceptance have been the better choice? Instead, he has made a living from preying upon women in the office, exclusively to belittle them in a sort of "power stance." He lives on an exclusive upper class island, has ample money to spend between him and his long time gay lover, who's a Harvard professor, but spends his spare time being catty, deceitful, manipulative, scornful and maniacal towards many, especially women and within the office where he makes his large salary. When confronted by upper management about his actions, including actions that were criminally and civilly wrong, what's his reaction? Complete hostility and more nonstop revenge at will. You'd think with all that money and spare time, he'd find more positive and uplifting things to do.

Then, there's the street thug predator who was born in a "dog eat dog" world and trained and groomed by some of New York's dirtiest and grimiest drug dealers and murderers. The thug only learned how to prey upon others for his financial well-being and is now passing that knowledge onto his children, guaranteeing a vicious environment for them as well. The thug would kill if necessary to achieve any financial goal. He has absolutely no conscience whatsoever. But he is a cowardly thug, as he only preys upon women, with help from other low self-esteem women. What is continually done to several working class women, is beyond mortifying. He preys on their success. Laughter was his only response at the thought of one, "Deniece," almost ending her life after moving in with her to intentionally rob her. And to pass the time, he invites the niece of one of his fraudulent movie subject matters into Deniece's home for sexual escapades while Deniece was honestly working a 9-5 job. His sex-partner in crime also had the choice to come clean to Deniece and many of the women whose car she rode in along side with the thug, while both were pretending to be "humans". She, who is raising a son, instead chose to sit quietly and reap the rewards of the thug's deceit. She actually brags about getting all she materially needs from guys she does nothing for, and puts down the women, that she helps her thug hustle, for being "nice." Ironically, both are actual cowards, because when confronted, their choice is to lie their way out and start covering their tracks while running. Yet, physical harm against their prey is possible for either, if their prey affects their next scam. A real man or woman would admit their wrong and make amends for them.

Three distinct people whose primary goal is to prey upon others, one for financial gain, the other two for personal satisfaction like serial killers. And how do you become their prey? Simply by letting them into your life or entering theirs, directly or indirectly. Their "predator" signs are there from the beginning, but you're too busy focusing on the big picture or other things, or assuming they're just like everyone else. But predators are coming from somewhere, and they're not going to wear a clearly visible sign. Some predators, like the thug, you meet on your way down the proverbial "ladder of success," definitely not on the way up. It's usually a series of catastrophic events that would place someone opposite of them into their life. If a person was to look back, their first reaction would be "clearly, I was not thinking, or not myself as I would normally never associate with someone like this."

The strange thing is if you were to put these three predators together, the thug would come out on top. No matter how much money the southern belle or homosexual male predators have, the thug would kill them both, if necessary, and with his paid off organized crime friends, would get away with it as well. The southern belle would pull her usual "oh poor me" and start to cry, completely overlooking how cold and calculating she is on a regular basis.

For the prey not mortally harmed, what's the worst that can happen: only quality people enter their life in the future because they're more careful about the trash that previously entered before.

For the predator, severe harm from another predator stronger than them is usually their downfall. Or the good guys win, and find them, and end their terror, along with placing them with other predators just like them in a confined, caged environment.

Of course, there's no greater predator than those like Dahmer, Bundy, Duncan and Gacy. People like Dennis Rader and Paul Bernardo-Karla Homolka/Teal should make everyone pay more attention to their neighbors. It amazes me how people are so surprised when they're exposed. There were signs all along. Predators don't just drop out the sky when the moon's full. They're standing next to you in restaurants, in hospitals, in libraries, at schools, and wherever their prey (people) can be found. There's an entire organization devoted to tracking these predators before they strike again. If they're able to elude an entire organization, how easy do you think it would be for them to fool the average person who's not paying attention?

For the non-fatal predator, time reveals all, therefore, the best thing is to treat with caution, and deal with them as you'd want to be dealt with, even though it won't matter to them, but at least you didn't become a monster in the process of discovering their true heart. Ask questions, follow your instincts, and always check out what they're saying. Being forthcoming shouldn't be an issue, and is also a sign of respect for you as a person. And isn't it strange how you feel bad about making people feel you don't trust them? But there's a reason for that feeling. Better safe than sorry, and I'm sure they'd do the same with you.

Recently, a strange man knocked on my door. He claimed he had just left my neighbor's house, but my neighbor was not home. He claimed he was collecting for a contest (boy did you pick the wrong house), but had no paperwork or nothing in his hand except some sort of pendant (was that for strangling?!). He was very friendly and sociable. Still not enough for me to open the door. Ted Bundy was friendly and sociable! Without even thinking of Ted Bundy, my instincts said "do not open the door", the other instinct was to grab my cell and snap his photo, as I have the worst memory of general people you encounter. I simply told him I was on the phone and he left, however, he was still standing outside another window. And when he saw me notice him, he walked off quickly. No way of knowing where he went or who he was. He was white, dark hair, average build/height, looked like anybody else and was dressed in shirt and pants. I checked the local sexual predators list, no one looked familiar. And it's rare for a predator to attack or kill outside of their race, but it's possible. They usually start by attacking or killing those immediately around them. All I could wonder is where he was headed to next and would the next person be as alert, if necessary.

And then... here comes an electronic message from my regular stalker... gosh, what a severely pathetic fool. Are there no more celebrities to stalk? I can only hope and pray that as they're awaiting our "it's gonna be memorable" encounter, they're learning how to spell. Then, just maybe I may be impressed instead of correcting their spelling in order to decipher their nonsense.