Of people and of trust...

Its been some time since I updated this blog with my normal rambling and thoughts. I am sitting at star bucks now and enjoying a lovely macchiato and some crumbly pastries as look back at the events that have unfolded in my life over the past two weeks. It has just started raining outside and as i sit and watch people scattering around searching for cover from this sudden downpour, I reminisce over the past few days. It has been a busy fortnight, both at the office as well as my personal life. With tons of paperwork to catch up on, most days and nights were spend screening and researching through facts & figures to develop a 5 year strategy for for a local GLC linked DFI. Had a very lovely time last weekend with my colleagues, in the clear blue skies and crystal clear waters of Pangkor. Had a lotsa fun. We freaked out! We sure were the noisiest crowd among the other departments in the firm.

On a personal sentiment, a thought came to me in the last few days so I’m penning it down now to eternalize it here. The strongest of these thought was one, which I value the most and have lived with since I was young. “TRUST”. Being an evangelist for trust for so long, perhaps it would be a good time to define the word in depth so that people know what my perception of trust is. Only then clear articulation and understanding of the word is accomplished. Trust indicates a “A depth and a sense of assurance that is based on strong but not logically-conclusive evidence or based on the character, ability, or truth that someone or something has shown over time or across situations”. A textbook definition but it does reveal a lot. Trust makes for a sense of being safe or of being free of fear, enough so that one's focus can be on other matters because that matter is taken care of. It becomes easier to simply enjoy life.

In that respect, I say:

-No human is totally trustworthy.

-No human is totally untrustworthy.

-No human can always trust themselves.

-No human is totally trusting of any one other person.

Trust is a big risk. We leave ourselves open for loss. Betrayal of trust hurts so much because the lost sense of security multiplies the damage. When it this the case, do many people know what is trust? On who to trust? Or do they know how to honor the trust projected onto them? After this fortnight, I seriously do not think people do. To these people, I would like to pose some serious questions to ponder:

1) Is trust really worth the effort?

2) Is trust really needed when in this present time when it is not valued anymore?

3) Has trust become a just commodity ? If it has, what is the price we pay to abuse it?

Different people will have different answer to these questions. To these questions, I answer the following:

1) Yes, trust is a personal value given to another person as a gift. It does not matter the other person appreciates or abuses it. It is you who give this honorable gift away to value the relationship that exists between the persons. By giving trust, it is you that feels the essence of the world in yourself. You set yourself free. Though you are open and vulnerable, yet you will feel joy in you heart. Is that not a precious feeling in return for trusting someone and getting hurt?

2) Trust will always be needed. For those who abuse this, there are serious repercussions that will follow. I always believe in karma. If you do good, you will receive good. If you do bad, the badness is amplified many times over before it comes back to you. This has been my belief in my life. Forget about the age and time and the people who live in it. This point today, this time, place, year, this century is but a tiny fragment of a point in the eternal fabric of time. Trust has been around for a much longer time and it will always be here. This society as we know it now will not, and a new society will evolve from the ruins of this as it has for centuries. The evolution of nations still follow Darwinism theory of evolution. Trust prevails in the end and never losses because of one very basic and simple premise: It was built on a unshakable foundation. The foundation of GOD. “As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end”

3) Trust has become a commodity for some people who tend to abuse or take opportunity of it. However, the price you pay in the end is, in my normal words and tone: “You will suffer for it one day”. Forget about burning in hell for all eternity for the sin you committed. That will only happen, if it ever happens, in the very end. For now, try to live with these thoughts of your abuse of the trust given to you in your conscience. How long will you live with it? Can you live with it to start with? Was it worth it?

The foundation of which trust was built on has slowly been eroded by the narcissistic values implored and spread into the very fabric of human existence in this present age. Ziggy Marley puts this nicely by saying "You must wondering what type of creature is man?” The value of trust will only be realised over a long time and somehow it sickens me to see this trust being abused or taken for granted. However, this is what our society has become now. A jungle where values such as trust tend not to exist, or at the very most, exist at a superficial level which is easily overlooked when the right opportunity arises. These will people pay for it with their souls in the end. With this, I end this blog entry with a song that is playing in my mind now:

Dragonfly

Everybody is worried about time,

But I just keep that shit off my mind,

People living on 24 hours clocks,

But we’re on a ride that never stops.

=====

Hey mister! Be the world changes but you remain the same,

and I hope you all survive with the environment going down the drain,

Hey miss dragonfly, I see you look at me with your beautiful eyes,

You must be wondering what kind of creature am I,

Dog looked at me and said Ziggy why can’t we trust man?

Puss and me got together, why can’t you all just understand,

An old tree stood there silently listening to every word we said

As a tear fell, he cried: what type of creature is man?

=====

I said hey mister! see the world changed but you remain the same,

And I wonder how you survive with the environment going down the drain,

Hey miss butterfly, I see you look at me with your beautiful eyes,

You mush be wondering what type of creature am I,

You must be wondering what type of creature is man.
-Ziggy Marley-

We live in this world only once. Live it. Trust is a precious gift, which YOU give. Never stop giving that gift even though it has been abused in the past. Be true to yourself. Continue giving it people. It does set you free. It does give you joy. This I can tell you. This I have come to experience.