Knox County TRIAD Senior Academy

• The session explored trust and strangers through a structured conversation method (quote, claim, counterclaim, essential question), starting with "You don't owe a stranger your attention."

• Participants shared contrasting experiences: some give to strangers out of compassion or guilt, others refuse based on past encounters with scammers or safety concerns, and one participant uses energy-sensing to decide whom to trust.

• The group identified that discernment matters more than blanket rules—asking "What do they really want?" helps navigate situations, though no one feels they "owe" strangers anything.

• Discussion shifted to daily scam experiences: relentless robocalls (especially fake Social Security and loan offers), AI-generated celebrity endorsements, spoofed caller IDs, political texts, and fraudulent checks targeting seniors.

• The most notable moment was a participant from Soviet-occupied Russia explaining she was conditioned from childhood never to trust anyone and now relies on a sixth sense to identify threats, telling sketchy strangers to "fuck off" in Italian.