Photo courtesy Kyra Watts
When I think about trust, the first things that pop into my mind are the people that I hold closest to my heart. They go hand in hand.
Trust is the base of all relationships. It’s the idea of being reliable, honest and strong. Would you consider someone that you don’t trust to be your friend? Do you think that you could genuinely be happy in a romanticized relationship with someone that you didn’t trust?
It’s kind of crazy because everyone’s first instinct would be to say no to both of those questions, but the reality is that they’re currently doing it. So many people around my age are in relationships with someone that they don’t trust due to the previous behaviors of that individual or previous experiences with someone else.
We’d rather sit around and worry and wonder if someone is being honest with us then accept the fact that their relationship lacks trust.
What caused our generation to devalue the idea of trust? We continue to depend and rely on people who have proven themselves unreliable time and time again. We’re so afraid of confrontation and change that we’re willing to settle for what we know we don’t deserve. Has it come down to us needing others that much to compromise ourselves?
Trust used to be something that someone had to work to gain. Trust used to be something that people would grieve if lost by or for someone. It used to hold more weight back in the day.
Back when Harriet Tubman was sneaking slaves out of the South, those people trusted her to lead them to safety. But that wasn’t just gift wrapped and delivered to her. It was very much earned.
This same scenario has been repeated over time throughout history. Now we’re here in 2019 with a president that constantly lies. But we “trusted” him enough to vote him into office and run the country.
How do we fault anyone but ourselves? We allowed the true value of something as precious as trust wither away as the years went on. We need to start holding people accountable for their actions and making them earn our respect and our trust. Why would anyone put in the extra work to earn something that you’re giving away for free?
The idea of truly relying on someone else is scary but possible. You just have to be open and patient because it’s not an overnight process.
It takes effort and true dedication for anyone to accomplish anything. You can’t be scared to take a risk. You can’t be scared to let someone go. You can’t be scared to let someone in. You just have to be willing to experience a few bumps in the road on the way to paradise.