Sometimes, I want to scream...

<--- This is just a week's worth of junk mail, at my dad's mailbox.

As you may know, my dad has a serious illness (Alzheimer), and in the meantime other illnesses (such as diabetes) have crept in. It seems... the words have spread out... to people who have things to sell.

Very targeted junk mails... that make you convinced that it's *NO* coincidence. Just a few years ago when my dad was doing well, there was *NONE* of these junk mails. Now these days, it's an avalanche. On FC I've blogged this a few times. However, due to their strict censorship, I couldn't post any photo. Now you have an idea of what I'm talking about. Awful, isn't it?

Breakthrough news... New herbal cures to Alzheimer! Mhhh... in 3rd class mail. If this was true there was a cure, don't you think it would have made the headlines in the media? Our doctors would know it, and serious organizations like the Alzheimer Society would have something to say? So, news coming in 3rd class mail are to me... 3rd class news! :)

There were other junk mail about exerting memory with exercises and drinking some weird stuff. Yeah sure. The other junk mail about diabetes got my attention. This was fairly recently that my dad was diagnosed with diabetes... Mhhhh... ok, let's say it's just coincidence.

Then, some spiritual help. Making sense of your life after you lose someone. Get the wisdom of the shaman, see the path to freedom, find happiness, understand why illness happens, etc... with on-location courses.

Right now, (with a great discount) some classes in nearby Berkshires (I know this part of Massachusetts quite well. With the fall foliage it must be splendid), then shortly after, classes in the California desert, then overseas in the Alps, then in Portugal and then back in America, but way further south, by walking in the lands of the Incas, in the mountains at 15,000ft and get a transfusion of their spirit. Beautiful and inspiring places to be!

Also great opportunities to travel... and to leave behind all your torments. Tempting, isn't it? That got my mom's attention, to say the least. I was doing the translation in French (she doesn't understand English), but the beautiful pictures in their blurb speak by themselves.

Then on the last page, the prices... and the tiny prints... whoopy. Each on-location classes (1 or 2 week long) cost a bundle (on average $2000-$3000) and that does *NOT* include transportation and personal expenses). In bold letters, a "risk-free" deposit. In tiny prints, the deposit will count toward the last class (this is squarely illegal in Québec, but our laws can't apply to US-based "schools") ... and that class will be held in 18 months from now, at a time and place to be announced. :)

So, if you have done the maths, 8 classes later at $2000-$3000 each (and you must not miss a single class, otherwise, it's bye-bye for your deposit)... we're talking of having to shell a whopping amount of $20,000 US just for the classes alone and only then, the deposit (a few hundred dollars) will count. Hello ?!? Can you smell... scam? No wonder why they use such tiny prints... and not bold letters. :)

It's almost a sure thing that no one will be able to afford these classes all the way to the end. Even with my salary as a computer programmer (and I'm well paid, thank you! :) ), I couldn't afford. So bye-bye the deposit and all the money already poured in, and these guys know it.

It's not the first time we get that kind of "spiritual help" in the mail (and I've blogged this at FC a couple of times) and their terms are always similar (which is why I spot them right away) ...

So my line of reasoning is this: If you are _really_ into spirituality, why these guys are so much into... money?

Besides, I think they more than cover their cost... nor they need to use gimmick, like that pseudo "risk-free" deposit", right?

For one, I can travel for far less... and I think that ahead of times, I can do enough research on my own (thanks Internet, thanks Bibliothèque Nationale)... and if I was really into spirituality, I think I'll manage to meet the right persons at the right places on my journey (which isn't the fun of travel, to begin with?), and money wouldn't even be part of the equation.

But maybe I know nothing about this new era spirituality, I'll admit. I never thought that my Visa card was so inspiring, all of a sudden. :)

"But there's a free DVD, Jacques. We should order it!"

Oh boy... Sure, they offer zillions of books and DVDs... at an unbelievable HUGE price... So you can smell that the "free" DVD is just another bait to pump money from us.

Sometimes I want to scream...

We all have an Achilles heel. The very weak spot that will knock down the giant that we are.

And that is what pissed me off of these *targeted* ads.

When you see your loved one fading away... slowly, ever slowly, and death is the finality... who hasn't dreamed of a miracle cure?

Why things happen the way they happen, why some horrible sickness occur? The pain that you feel, your soul that is screaming, wouldn't spiritual help the remedy?

These guys know it... and they bombard you. See the photo on my blog? That's what happening, weeks after weeks, months after months, bombarding us with their advertising.

They tell you exactly what you want to hear... hitting us where we're the most vulnerable. Soothing our pain...

... and I appear as a big villain in front of my mom.

Sometimes, I want to scream...

-E