I choose you.

My previous blogs have been about actions, this is much more direct: the eventual consequence of  integrity, honesty,  reliability, responsibility.  Unfortunately, infinitely more rare and complex.  In a world where it is always about “what’s in it for me?” how can you honestly trust someone?  Unless it is that you trust them to act in a certain way because they will achieve a specific result. well that simply is not trust; it’s conditioning.  Gone are the days when someone still held to the principle “my word is my bond” let alone anyone who is ready or willing to accept such a claim.  Selfishness is all to prevalent for that idea to resurface, yet.

It is impossible for trust to exist unless both parties reciprocate that trust, it is much too genuine a concept for anything less unacceptable. It can neither thrive nor nourish under such conditions.   The only aspect that I have absolute control over are the actions and choices that I undertake, that being the case I choose to make the first step I will always opt for trusting when mistrusting would have been just as easy.  The only stipulation I make is that I will trust unreservedly up and to the point that I am let down by an undeserving recipient.  The overwhelming majority of relationships I develop genuinely  surprise me, I am very cynical individual but when given the opportunity and being trusted with that opportunity significantly more often than not, their efforts to live up to that trust are exponential in relative value and we are all better for it.

As part of my work I feel it necessary for those people, that I am assisting to trust that I am working with their best interest in mind.  As we mentioned in class regarding the templates for saying no tactfully, there are certain situations where unfortunately there is no other possible answer.  For me where trust plays the biggest role is that when these situations arise and the only course of action is a hard no, they understand by my actions and my role that every possible avenue that had a ‘yes’,  ’maybe’, ‘what if we try’, or a ‘how about this’ was summarily exhausted and for one reason or another was not a viable option.  Trust allows for understanding and from there it is a very quick jump to acceptance.  That is the value of trust and without it I would be a shadow of who I really am.

Not only do I choose to trust, I choose you.