What is trust...and how does it work? Is it actually something that matters? Should we EVER trust anyone? I know that I have betrayed the trust of people in my life on numerous occasions, and that I will probably do it again, and yet I have terrible issues with anyone doing the same to me. How unfair is that?

I am human...and I am weak. I assume the two are connected intrinsically, but maybe all humans are not as completely befuddled about their own identities as I am. Some people appear to be confident and secure and to know how to survive life, but if they do I don't think it is a permanent state of mind. Anyone who claims to have it figured out is probably just about to get the memo that they had it all wrong. You just can't trust trust.

Once you put your trust in anything -- another person, yourself, an idea, a nation, a god -- you are setting yourself up to get kicked in the teeth. If you don't put your trust in anything, you will be soulless and empty. Humans HAVE to trust, starting at birth. We trust as tiny infants our parents, our eyes, our limbs, our hearts, our sense of reality, the solid ground beneath us. We suffer at the hands of that trust and become disillusioned all too early. We bleed and scar and heal and we trust again. And again and again.

So, after much self-reflection, here is what I have come to believe on this particular day. I have a finite amount of time left on this planet, and not all of that time is likely to be productive even in the best-case scenario. Time spent wallowing in my negative feelings is time lost forever. I must put aside my sorrow, my anger, my indignance at being so completely deceived on so many occasions by those people and things I have faith in. I will. I am. I can trust again.

At least that sounds like a good plan!