TRUST ....AND OBEY?

As I always say to my wife, "The only people I trust are you and me, and I'm beginning to get a little nervous about you." Trust seems to something that's often asked for but seldom deserved. Mainly I think, it's because few can provide a real foundation to assure even a semblance of veracity. Most everyone knows by now not to trust salespersons, contractors, and politicians. Insert your favorite antidote here. But when you get closer to home, as it were, it doesn't seem so black and white but over time, some things become rather clear.

1. Few have your best interests in mind. The best you can do is a mixture of yours and theirs. Beware of people who think you need a haircut.

2. A lot depends on whether they like you or not. Don't expect good people to extend good graces. Suck up as much as you can. Tell people what they want to hear.

3. Alluding to an authority doesn't mean there's any justification involved. It just means they think there's a higher law that everyone should live by until it interferes with their own lives. "I was agin' it before I was it."

4. Don't buy into the "Hearts and Flowers" routine of someone who has abused you, especially if it is physical. They will do it again. But do buy a baseball bat to wake them up in the morning. The general rule is to keep hitting until they wake up.

5. Trust doesn't come from belonging to a special group that has special knowledge and insight. No group loves in special way just because they dress and act the same. Grape Kool Aid is a good  communal drink, but a nice Chardonnay will be remembered. 

6. Trust breaks down when someone finds an excuse for what they did, even though they have judged you and others for the very same thing. There's a difference when a family-values politician or pastor solicits homosexual sex, they're usually under a lot of stress.

7. Trust comes from including all there is, not from excluding whole chunks of experience and understanding as being BS or irrelevant. Your life began with your first breath, not with your latest enlightenment, unless you're Oprah.

8. Trust is hollow if you are following one person or interpreter, or a narrow set of tenets that are absolute do's and don'ts. If you want to worship someone, first check their garbage can, or computer history.

9. Falling into some group-think or community can be beneficial if you can ask questions, state doubts, be who you really are and leave without recrimination or judgment. Don't confuse acceptance with the group's head count. And stay clear of any group that begins with R, N, F, S or C. Especially Chuck's Pretty Good, Down Home, Good Enough For Now, Prairie Party For The Preservation of Pheasants. I hear they've taken the naked fire dance to a whole new level.

10. And of course, trust suffers when people don't have basic common sense or the ability to identify what is rational. It's simply amazing how hypocrisy, incoherence and made-up facts are overlooked as long as they have the so called "right" or "left" label. When did honesty become a liability? 
  



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CREDITS: RAW STORY - DAVID EDWARDS, DAVID FERGUSON, HUFF POST - ANTONIA BLUMBERG, LAUREN BASSET, BENJAMIN HALLMAN, RELIGION NEWS SERVICE - KAREN ECKSTROM. LAUREN MARKOE, AP - MARK KENNEDY, MANNIK BANNERJEE, ART DAILY.ORG, GETTY, FLICKER, MIKE VILLA