Who Do You Trust?
Ok, call me a slow learner. A remedial student in the classroom of life. Some lessons I pick up right away and apply readily, but others I seem to keep having to re-learn over and over again, the hard way. Maybe it’s because I really don’t want to believe they’re true. Maybe I’d like to retain a shred of optimism about human nature. Who knows.
Anyway, here are the two lessons I have trouble getting through my thick skull, although Lord knows they’re a recurring theme in quite a few of my short stories. (I should re-read my own work and learn from it, eh?)
1.) If someone seems too good to be true, he or she is.
2.) People are just fine until the moment they’re not fine anymore, and then you better watch out.
It’s an issue of trust, of course. But how well do we really know anyone, even those we feel closest to? Even more troubling, how well do we know ourself?
“I’d never do that!” I’ve heard many trustworthy individuals firmly avow, and then watched them turn right around at a later date and do whatever it is (with many excellent justifications for why, of course.) I’ve said the same thing upon occasion — followed by the inevitable back-pedaling and excuse-making (hope no one was watching when I did that…ha.)
If we can’t trust our own selves, what makes us think we can trust anyone else?
–phoebe kate