Trust and deception


“We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never deceived us.”
Samuel Johnson


Trust me, really, you can trust me! Most famous last words, and then knives get stuck in your back, one by one. How many times can you recall where your trust was grossly taken for granted, where you were stabbed in the back by someone in whom you placed all your trust? I believe that the sole reason for us dishing out our trust so easily to someone is because we have not yet been deceived by that specific person. Should we then, because of this, stop trusting people? Certainly not, because it is better to trust and be deceived, than not to trust at all. There is something noteworthy about deception; when you are deceived by someone you trusted, that person showed his/her true colours, and that is a knowledgeable experience because then you know how to handle that person in the future if ever you decide to interact with that person again. We place our trust in others on a daily basis, we can only hope that our trust will not be broken. It makes me think of a proverb saying that if you trust before you try, you may repent before you die. Remember the following, in the words of an 18th century English saying, that it is an equal failing to trust everybody, and to trust nobody. So maybe Shakespeare has the right advice: “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” I truly hope that the trust you place in people will be in people worthy of your trust and that your trust will mean something to them. I trust you in this!    

I always thought it was very just,
to willy-nilly dish out my trust.
From now on I will, however, be more discreet,
in dishing out my trust to those I meet.





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