“Trust no one” and its countless variants are phrases that we have heard numerous times. It has been glorified as the only way to survive on the “streets” – the traitorous path called life.
Family members who are ripe in age tell us tales of how they have “seen life”. How friends get jealous and plot to sabotage when one is on the brink of success. How friends who smile at us may be secretly planning our demise.
We learn to constantly look over our shoulders just in case we get stabbed in the back.
These tales are not unprecedented. Trust will hurt you.
Ned Stark in the hit series “ Game of Thrones,” lost his head because he decided to trust in Little finger, who eventually betrayed him. (Who trusts a guy called Little finger?)
We may have been hurt by someone we deeply trusted before. The pain brings us to conclusion that it’s safer to not trust.
However, I disagree.
Trust will hurt you, or may even get you killed, but so can everything else in life.
Take cars, for example. According to the findings, there is an estimated number of 3700 fatalities in automobile accidents globally each day. Cars kill people too, but that doesn’t stop us from boarding cabs or buying cars.
I am of the opinion that the concept of trust is gravely intertwined with living. One can argue that it is the basis of a worthwhile existence. So to give up on trust is to give up on living. To trust is to be human.
Life is risky. Yet, we live each day trusting in one form or the other without even being conscious of it.
We buy a bottle of Coke and down it without checking the expiration date because we trust the vendor to not sell expired goods, and even more, trust that Coca-Cola doesn’t sell us poison.
What about the pharmacist? We trust them to give us medications that will cure our diseases. Not those that mutate us pills into hideous monsters.
We trust the builders of our houses, schools and places of worship to have used standard elements when constructing these structures.
The list goes on.
However, we suddenly become conscious when it comes to companionship. Our walls go up when we met a stranger, and when said stranger becomes “a friend,” the walls may lower a little but still remain up.
We question the motive behind each of their kind gestures and constantly wonder if their love is genuine. Even when all things check out, we still keep them at arm’s length because of the assumption that when the opportunity comes they will hurt us.
The walls we put up to protect ourselves often confine us. A self-imprisonment that denies us the experience of true vulnerable companionship. We are cautious to open ourselves up. Afraid that those we let in will leave us broken with millions of unrecoverable pieces.
Again, I agree. Some will.
However, I believe we may also find pieces of ourselves in some people when we let them in.
Distrusting may be safer but it won’t build bridges. Trust will. It can be the ladder to save you from a burning building.
Raya from the Disney Animation “Raya and the Last Dragon” saved the world by trusting in an enemy even when given reasons not to.
The world would probably be in danger if we all decided not to trust.
I believe life would be pretty hard with a sore neck from years of constantly looking over your shoulders.
Sometimes it’s not a knife that’s been placed on your back but a hand. One to strengthen you when the going gets rough. Happiness may be sweeter when shared and burdens easier to bear.
Trust will hurt you. However, I believe it is an integral part of life. Like the foundation of a house, without it, everything comes crashing down.
You don’t have to trust my word now, or ever, but I hope you reflect on them. If you enjoyed reading this, Check out other opinion pieces here.
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