Trust

Trust.
Who do you trust?
Trustworthy, consumer trust, banking trusts, trusting personalities.

The living man thinks. I was alive today, and thought about trust. I trust some to borrow or loan. I trust others to watch over my things. I trust still others to personal information. But what of complete trust?

I define complete trust as the ability to have complete confidence in someone's integrity. I've learned that such trust cannot reasonably be extended. There is, however, a practical amount of trust you can put in your fellow man. Following the economics of trust and virtue, there is even a way to sort out who can be placed in your top-tier of trust. These people are your best friends, your spouses, the executors of your will. These are whom you share, confide in, and pray with. They are few and far between.

Or at least they should be. Throughout life, an individual should learn how to carefully determine who deserves this trust. To the experienced individual, trust is something to be given slowly and carefully because trust cannot be shed like snakeskin. New layers don't harden quickly, but trust lost can become a scar and possibly damage the individual in a myriad of ways.

Trustworthiness doesn't always imply that a person is prompt to meet appointments or always comes through with the potato salad at get-togethers. Trustworthiness is a matter of representation and perception. Does the person represent the truth of who they are? How well can you perceive what they represent? These questions are answered through experience with the individual.

Can you trust yourself? Only you can answer that question, but don't be so quick to trust your answer. Examine it. I trust myself, though not completely. Only abstract concepts can truly be given complete trust, as long as you can trust yourself to understand them.

The top-tier of trust is one that rarely changes, and is hard-earned. Mine has 3. It feels crowded. If anyone else isn't in that top-tier, it's because I don't know them well enough or I know them well enough not to place them there.

For your own sake, watch this tier closely.