Exploring the Concept of Trust

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Trust (n) - a: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or something
                   b: one in which confidence is placed

Trust is something that is deemed so easy to have but easy to lose.  It is easy to come by in a child but harder to see in adults.  Yet, trust is said to be vital for relationships, friendships, family, even religion.  In fact, in my studies in school, trust was taught to be the basis of some political protocol as well.

When you meet a child on the street, they look at you with their wide-eyed faces, glowing and brimming with curiosity and questions.  In those eyes and in their actions, you can see a trust that they place in the very motions and interactions they hold with everyone, even new acquaintances.  Is this not the reason we have to warn our children of "stranger danger?"  Have you truly known any child to recognize a stranger without it being defined first?  Of course not.  They hold within them an endearing level of trust in people around them.

Yet, due to the world around us, we must rob them of this sense of trust.  If we were still in the mindset of "a village to raise a child," I do not doubt that this practice would not occur.  However, because we operate more as an "every family for themselves" mentality, our immediate families are becoming safe havens and circles of protection and trust (as in the movie, Meet the Parents).

Having this instilled within us from a young age paves the way for us and colors our future relationships as adults.  Although I was raised with knowledge of stranger danger and to be careful who you trust, I, forever the eternal optimist, have always had faith in man and mankind.  Therefore, I was far too trusting.  I can see my mother nodding her head enthusiastically, for she always told me this.  Because of my desire to want to trust and see, in my mind, the good in people, I went through a lot of hardships, a lot of bad relationships and situations.  To this day, I am still coping and rebuilding from those times.

Even now, in a loving and accepting relationship with my fiancé, the need to trust freely always needs to be called to mind.  He has never done anything to cause me to question him.  But my past colors and dyes my future as an Easter egg.  I find it difficult to live in the present sometimes without invoking the past.  And the same goes from him.  His past, his nightmares and past relationships, color his relationship with me.  I know I have never given him reason to doubt his unwavering trust, but I am certain that he has to remind himself to not let his past experiences reflect on his current life with me.  But knowing where the obstacles are is half the battle to conquering them.  With us both knowing where the other has been, we can better come together and move forward in a new light.

I mentioned trust in political protocol.  I studied International Relations and French during my years in college.  One of the most fascinating classes I had the privilege of taking was International Law.  This class was the study of law as it pertains between nations.  The most fascinating part and how it pertains to my discussion on trust: there is no world police force, no law enforcing body, no actual letter of law to follow.

Intriguing, isn't it?  How, you might ask, does the world and nations get managed?  Isn't there the United Nations and other governing bodies that can impose laws?  It would seem that way but all of these political bodies are voluntary.  The only thing the United Nations will do when a nation is no following the by-laws is enact sanctions on the nation that will be observed by everyone else in the United Nations.  Therefore, if a country is not in United Nations, they do not have to follow these sanctions. 

The other way trust comes into play is the concept of reciprocity.  Nations often come to agreements about certain items and problems on terms of reciprocity.  You scratch my back, I will scratch yours.  Basically, trust in the other's word.  We will drop our nuclear arms if you do the same.

The biggest and sometimes most difficult type of trust is Trust in Faith.  "+Jesus I Trust in You+" Words that carried Angela Faddis and her family through the darkest and final days.  If trust is so easily taken from us as children, is it difficult to hold on to enough to trust in the unknown?  The intangible?  This is where Faith comes in.  We cannot trust what we do not have Faith in.  Just like anything else in life.  All of the above examples require an amount of Faith in order for the Trust to be instilled.  I have faith in my fiancé so I can trust him.  Nations hold an amount of faith or confidence in other nations, so they hope to trust them.  But the hardest is to find Faith in what we believe to hold Trust in Him.

Tomorrow, I think I might start a trilogy on Faith, Hope and Love.  For today, I will close as I feel I have exhausted trust for the time being.  Perhaps trust will come up again.  Perhaps I will trust you, the reader, to tell you more about my past experiences which so shaped and formed my trust.  But for now, enjoy a thing called, "La Vie."