The Magic Word...Again

Bullying, parental neglect, child abuse; we hear about these ills all the time. Cliques, my favorite being 'the schoolyard girls club', we hear less about. A pity.

All of these destroy trust, and as you may know, trust is my magic word. Without it the world cannot turn: virtually everything we do requires that we trust. Could you get on a freeway if you didn't inately trust that other drivers would follow the rules?

Infants appear to be born trusting. Helpless,they accept that they are dependent and expect love and care.In infancy, and beyond into adolescence,when trust is destroyed there are predictable consequences.The worst of these is the descent into fearful reticence.

The fearful will not ask for help. The fearful will solve their own problems.They erect facades to mask their fears and walk alone. Inescapably, the roads they take are often the wrong ones. Fears bring hesitancy and generally speaking, people are attracted to confidence, so there is isolation too. That in turn makes the fearful prey for evildoers who fake affection and concern to gain followers.

That brings me back to trust.Nurture it in your family, inspire it in those you deal with, and never alter the future of a child by destroying their capacity for it.

Trust truly is the magic word.