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In a social setting, if I were asked to describe the word
trust, I would say that the word trust is a sunshine word and that it was
ordained to bring peace, hope, good health, wealth, comfort, respect and
happiness. Perhaps I would be asked to
explain or give examples and in doing so I could be met with opposition due to
the complexity that has chained itself to trust. Listening
to the experiences of random people in the streets, it would appear as if there
are two sides to trust. Some people will
use it for what it is worth whereas some will use it in an unscrupulous manner
for personal gains or other acts. Bribery, manipulation or banduluism
(trickery) as we would say in Jamaica are some of the methods used. In dealing with trust, actions should remain
clear as crystal for quality and honest results. Would you trust the stock market to wheel and
deal your monies? Not that I am
undermining the stock market, it’s the risk and fear in our trust.
To live in a perfect world is to honor trust. Unfortunately because of human
characteristics and emotions, trust is difficult to uphold. The
adage “Trust no shadow after dark” becomes stronger, vibrant and rampant each
day as situations arise. As humans, we
will sometimes take the mickey out of someone.
Children are usually the masters at this. For example let me educe one of the micks
from childhood. Children took pleasure
in offering a seat to their peers and then they would abruptly pull away the
seat, leaving them to fall to the ground on their buttocks, startled and
possibly fracturing the coccyx. Back then
inasmuch as the behavior was amusing to us, it was also considered mischievous
and rude by the elders. Besides that, we
had no clue the “fun” was all about trust.
Another example of trust gone awry takes place when two
people are engaged in unprotected sex, be it legal or ‘Jim Screechie’
(cheating). The female after being
cajoled by her male partner that he would not ejaculate in her, fearing pregnancy,
is sometimes met with the contrary. In
the throes of passion the male thrusts away merrily, refused to be
interrupted. In the end the female is
left to wonder if she will be visited by her next menstrual cycle. Then again, if there is an ounce of comfort
to be given to the female, it would be to take courage in knowing that birth
control methods can also fail.
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| Gill (measuring cup from the 1950s) |
Trust issues are so wide and varied but amidst them all
there can be some laughter. My father
was a shopkeeper and there are times when I would remember the little bearers
who arrived at the shop, sent by their parents or guardians to trust
goods. First they would do the
salutations in a loud but respectable manner, tip to reach the counter and then
in a sing-song voice said, “Please, sir, Mama said if you can please trust her a
pound of flour, one gill cooking oil, quattie (halfpenny) worth of salt, a
pound of cornmeal”; or, whatever the needs were.
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| Funnel from the 1950s |
I am unable to fathom why trust would easily carouse with
fear. Trust requires honesty, integrity
and reliability. The rise in thought tells me that trust is like a paragon of
virtue. It should never lose its
hymen. If and when it happens, it then becomes
available to all kinds of speculations.
Trust also holds court with Humpty Dumpty, the character in one of our
popular nursery rhymes. Once trust is
broken, it is unlikely that it can be repaired. To prevent trust from getting a bad rap is
it possible to mandate it with guidelines or laws. Laws if broken, usually warrant certain
measures or punishment, the ultimate revenge.
In all of this though, something
tells me that the paradoxical efforts of mankind first have to be tamed. On that note it is necessary to refresh my
memory on the definition of trust. I consulted
with The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, College Edition, and
found twenty three definitions of the word trust. If you are already distraught with the
concept of trust, due to circumstances or experiences, you will perhaps yawn
many times before coming to the end of all the following definitions:
Belief in and reliance
on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing.
Confident
expectation of something; hope.
Confidence in the
certainty of future payment for property or goods received; credit: to sell
merchandise on trust.
A person or thing
that is reliable or trustworthy
The condition of
one to whom something has been entrusted.
The obligation or
responsibility imposed on one in whom confidence or authority is placed: a
position of trust.
Charge; custody;
care.
Something committed
or entrusted to one’ care for use or safekeeping, as an office, duty, or the
like; responsibility; charge.
Law, a fiduciary
relationship in which one person (the trustee) holds the title to property (the
trust estate or trust property) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).
Com. An illegal
combination of industrial or commercial companies in which the stock is
controlled by a central board of trustees, thus making it possible to control
prices, destroy completion, etc.
Archaic.
Reliability.
In trust, left in
the care or guard of another: The money
will be kept in trust for her children
Law. Of or
pertaining to trusts or trust.
To rely upon or
place confidence in someone or something.
To have confidence;
hope.
To sell merchandise
on credit.
To have trust or
confidence in; rely on.
To believe.
To expect
confidently; hope.
To commit or consign
with trust or confidence.
To permit to remain
or go somewhere or to do something without fear or consequences.
To invest with
trust; entrust with something.
To give credit to a
(a person) for goods, services, etc., supplied.
Tah-tah! We see a man’s face but not his heart.
Grace Dunkley-Asphall,
Copyright © 2014
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