Guarding Trust

When a cat or dog leans their head back for you to pet their throat and upper chest, they are offering you their trust. They are trusting you not to hurt them. And if they roll over and offer you their belly to rub, that is total and complete trust.

A young child trusts that their parents will provide their needs -- food, a place to live, clothes to wear. They know if they are sick their parents will see to it they have the medical treatment needed to make them well. They learn their parents want only the best for them and will always help them if they have a problem.

Employers trust their employees to be at work on time, to do whatever is needed of them. They trust their workers to call in if they become sick and can’t work. They also trust them to be honest and not to steal from them.

But sometimes, trust is broken in many ways. And once a person breaks the trust given to them, it is difficult to regain that trust.

Trust is the center of all of life’s basic rules. When one of those rules is broken, trust is also broken. And then it takes work and time to regain that trust.

A teenager who breaks curfew, can find it hard to understand the consequences of their action. But they must realize their parents set that curfew not to hamper their child’s fun, but to protect them.

Although trust can be regained, it will never be the same as it was before it was broken. It’s important to remember that trust is as fragile as it is strong. Guard it well.