It’s not possible to lead a normal life in modern society (likely any society) without some trust of your fellow humans. It’s easy to forget that. I used to work at an Internet Service Provider in the late ‘90’s, (back in the dial-up days) and more than once, I had clients who were very concerned that we would know their password, even if only long enough to communicate it to them. The fact that we had admin level access to their accounts seemed to not factor into their thinking – their password was private.
It’s a similar thing when someone declares “I will never give my credit card number for an online purchase, it’s too risky.” What was the old method of using a credit card? You physically handed the card to a (likely underpaid, and undertrained) store employee, who kept the carbons of the transaction. This was not worrisome? This is safer than 128K encryption?
One of the biggest leaps of faith we take in trusting people is when we drive a vehicle. Think of it – you’re trusting dozens of people every day not to plow their cars into you. You’re counting on the notion of mutually assured destruction to protect you. But that philosophy doesn’t apply to people who are inattentive, tired or otherwise impaired. But you take the chance, and you rarely give it a second thought.
Sharing trust willingly, is good for us. It is the basis of love, and it is one of the highest risks most of us take. We’re not risking our bank accounts, or even bodily harm, as with credit cards and automobiles, but much more – as anyone whose heart has been broken can attest. Even friendship entails similar, if lower-stakes risks.
Everything in life that’s worthwhile is gained through some measure of trust. I have heard of a proverb (attributed to the Chinese): “If you hire a man, then trust him.” I take this as meaning that once you’ve satisfied yourself that someone can be trusted, then you must decide to trust that person until they prove untrustworthy. Think of the peace of mind that comes with being that decisive.
The alternative is being suspicious, looking for sinister motives in everyone. That must be exhausting, and I bet people like get taken advantage of no less often than the rest of us. Well, maybe they avoid some of the disappointment we all experience once in the while, but at a cost of whole lot less fun.
Where’s the bluegrass reference in this essay? I don’t know – I went down a path and forgot to weave it in. I guess, in a sense, I violated my readers’ trust. I apologize! I promise my next column will be chock full of fresh-picked bluegrass goodness! Trust me!
