Worthy Trust is Precious

Life lesson: Trust in others, but be aware of wolves in sheep‘s clothing.

The other day Alone Goose was again resting on my sidewalk in the location where previously many geese rested, under a large tree. If they weren’t resting, they would be eating grass in the neighbor's yard. Today, there were no other geese around. Anywhere. I walked by the goose again. It hissed a little bit, but didn’t race off. None of the other geese will permit close proximity. I have speculated before why Alone Goose is alone. At least this day it permitted someone near it. It is probably lonely.

Perhaps it is because I move slowly and let critters know I won’t hurt them. They sense this. The squirrel that wants to eat my tomatoes knows I don’t want it doing that though. It high-tails itself when it sees me. There are no handouts of kindness for it.

Some people seem to emanate trust. They radiate warmth, kindness and sincerity. My dog can tell. A professional friend I had once gave her dog the job of checking out her clients. The dog never erred. Rejected by the dog meant never a success as a client. They wouldn’t pay for one thing.

Last winter I contacted a company to give me a quote for electrical work to be done in my home. They sent a representative who gave me an outrageous quote. He wanted to know if there was anything else he could do to help me. He then asked if he could check my box. WHAT? Big grin on his face. I guess he thought it was engaging. I thought it was a leer. He gave me the creeps. I could hardly get rid of him fast enough.

The man who I selected to do the work, confided that that particular company routinely overcharges, and in one instance, had actually threatened a client.

I think if we pay attention, we can usually sense trustworthiness in others and stay clear of the predators. This is not always the case, though. The con artist knows how to project trust and sincerity. They are good at it and solicit a lot of dollars from their trusting victims regularly.

The predators have a good sense of who to fleece. In my vulnerability from the loss of my wife, my defenses were down. Grieving takes energy. It can leave the body exhausted and, in my case, it did. My senses became depleted. I was almost taken in by a scam of helping the FBI catch a crook. The scam involved thousands of dollars for me to assist in this worthy endeavor. My senses became alert just in time. The crook didn’t score this time.

These crooks are very professional at their crookedness. They scam millions every day. People, for the most part, want to trust others, to believe in goodness. People want to help and do good deeds.

Over the years, my wife gave me rules to help know who, without prior knowledge, not to trust. She didn’t want me to totally rely on my senses in the following instances. She reminded me to look for these “red flags.”

Beware of someone who

Wants to borrow my tools.

Will do an “absolutely outstanding job,” above standard.

Is going to “throw in” all these extras on the job.

Has a better offer (than the other), and belittles the other.

Wants to borrow money.

Promises to show up the very next day to do the work.

Promises to get the work done in an extremely short timeframe.

Shows up at your door with a good offer to do repairs, driveway, paint, roofing, etc.

Wants a lot of money in advance to do repairs, driveway, paint, etc.

Has something for sale at a ridiculously low price.

The list can go on.

She also seemed to know whom to trust. I believe Alone Goose would have trusted her.

We need to trust people. We revel when creatures of nature trust us. We blossom with friendship, whether that of people or creatures. We just have to be aware of the predators and hear our friends’ warning horns blasting in our ears.

Do we all need an alerting dog? It would be nice.

Let me know how you are doing. I care.

Sincerely,

Lynn Brooke

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Photo Credit: © 2023 Rachel Gareau