Betrayal and Trust

June 24, 2013 — anger, betrayal, risk, trust

The decision to trust is a risk. Calculating risk should be a skill we develop and improve over our lives. The influence of relationships on our faith in others is central. Early betrayal can be a blessing because it can prevent deeper problems by showing true colors. Trust and the possibility of betrayal arise together. If we trust the government, or our spouse, or boss, we may find that faith has been misplaced.  Few of us have the ability to accurately  judge or predict the behavior of our closest companions. Being blind to imperfections is neither healthy nor honest.  If we are honest we can admit our own imperfections, and our own potential to betray others. With perspective we can see how our national anger has damaged the entire society.

The rose-colored glasses version of America was a risk. The more we spun ourselves into the greatest country in the world, the more we found ourselves betrayed as a nation.  The more we fought for our way of life around the world  (whatever that meant), the more undesirable our way of life became.  The more we declared war on everything from drugs to terror, the more ground we lost in the global trust department.  Now American security is breeched on a regular basis in fairly spectacular fashion.  It is lucrative, I imagine, for some, but it is becoming a badge of courage. If the seed of betrayal is trust, then it must also follow that after betrayal trust becomes mature and discerning. It is a cycle, gentle reader.