Truth

I probably should not laugh but I do when I think about it.  A friend of mine is of Dutch extraction.  He visited Holland but was not getting out a lot.  His mum told him he needed to be more trusting.  So the next people he met he tried it, and was taken down an alley and robbed.
Trust is such a biggy these days.  I liked a polly but he lied and I felt I could not trust him.  Car salesmen are apparently low on our trust list.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary has two definitions of trust “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something,” “one in which confidence is placed.”
I know I have let people down.  It happened recently at table tennis.  I wondered if that person would ever trust me again.  I have organized something else with him and I sure hope it works out.
I think my thoughts are pretty well known on trust.  People can be reliable and of good will, but it is inevitable they will let us down.  I never look for it or expect it but when it happens, it does not surprise.  I, like everyone I think, am prone to it.
It is when someone has an untrustworthy character I am more on my guard.  I heard a story the other day about someone involved in a very minor prang.  The one at fault insisted on doing something.  They bought tickets to a fancy restaurant and a night at the theatre for this guy and his wife on a particular night.  While out their house was robbed.
In Townville someone wandered into my yard.  They had not seen me and I spoke to them.  I could not believe how ready the answer was or how reasonable.  It made me think “you have done this before.”
Some people are really practiced in the art of deception.  I admit I am not one of them.  I would have too much trouble remembering what lie I had told who.  I guess the fact that people have lost thousands when they commit money to a person who says they will make more, only for the people to lose the lot, is testimony to that.
The latest I have heard about was a supposed big concert being organized in the Caribbean.  People sent money and booked rooms only to find out it was never happening.  It was a scam. 
I find it too easy to walk into something and then wish I had not.  I reckon real discernment is needed.  Often alarm bells ring and they are worth listening to.  I admit I am not a fan of haste.  I must be telemarketer’s worst nightmare.  I have signed up when I wanted to, but I tend to ask for a web address so I can consider things.  That is not what they want of course.  I do feel for them as often I think they are rudely treated, and they are just doing their job (every occupation has bad apples).  I have no evidence, but it would not surprise me if there was a high attrition rate in that occupation.
As Albert Einstein said, “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”  And what Charles Spurgeon said seems more true in this day of social media than ever “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”