In the Disney Movie “Jungle Book,” taken of course from one of Rudyard Kipling’s more famous stories, there is a memorable and dangerous snake who hisses at the main character, “Trust in me, just in me,” while seeking to do harm. As human beings, especially those of us who find trust to be difficult, we face a difficult dilemma in that trust is necessary for us to live lives that are happy and successful but that choosing the appropriate people and levels of trust can be a task that is wearisome and difficult, unpleasant, and one where we may make serious blunders. Far too many of us have legitimate reasons to be wary about trust, but also have longings for intimacy (which can only be founded on trust) that require us to trust someone. So developing our judgment and discernment are matters are considerable importance.

One of the more notable stories this week has been the exposure that the IRS targeted conservative not-for-profit groups for special scrutiny due to reasons of political partisanship. That this is an immense scandal is unquestionable, and that it reflects poorly on the partisanship and bias of those presently in power in the executive branch of our government is also clear. It is, after all, the responsibility of a leader to set the moral tone of honor in conduct and conversation and to set a good example for others to follow. Clearly that was not done in this case. Whatever huffing and puffing and bleating will be done after the fact, the damage is done. A government where minor bureaucrats feel empowered to abuse their power for selfish and partisan purposes is a government that is simply too powerful to be allowed to exist, for no one can be trusted to have that sort of power to harm others.

When we examine levels of appropriate trust, we have to recognize that deeper levels of trust require higher levels of character to handle effectively. The more powerful someone’s position or the closer the level of intimacy we give to someone, the more their character matters. A close friend or family member or lover can do far more damage than a stranger or acquiantance can. Someone in charge of a nation can do vastly more harm than the mayor of a small town or the head of a small not-for-profit. However, our understanding of the character of others is often highly defective. This is true in part because people are so easily deceived by those who have the appearance of virtue without the reality, but also because we want to be deceived to think that those who claim to promote our own interests will be people of honor and integrity, when this is simply not generally the case. When we (correctly) see corruption of various kinds as being endemic throughout our cultural, economical, and political elites, to put our trust in would-be saviors from that same political class is an act of immense folly and blindness for which we ourselves are responsible.

One of the sad truths of life is that survivors of abuse (and this abuse can be of many different kinds) either trust too easiliy and too completely, ignoring the warning signs that pop up, or trust too poorly and too narrowly, being ruled by their fears and suspicions. Given the large amounts of irrational faith in government and failed institutions as well as irrational suspicion of those same institutions, it is clear that this world is filled with many survivors of abuse who have a hard time untangling the effects of that abuse and seeking to fairly judge others. Far from being a world full of confident people, we are a generation broken by the sins of our fathers and from the repercussions and damages of our own follies and blunders. Such wisdom as we possess has been earned so painfully that it has left us with deep wounds and scars. Among the most obvious and deepest of these wounds is the damage we have suffered in our capacity for reasonable and appropriate levels of trust, which is often a casualty of the betrayals that we have suffered so often, being betrayed because we have trusted in the wrong people or trusted people who were simply unable to live up to our hopes and expectations.

If we aspire to be people who are worthy of trust, we face the difficulty of not only needing to be people of high moral character and integrity, of motives that are decent and upright, but also people who are able to translate these motives and moral standards into action that is and is seen by others in a good light. Given the levels of suspicion and fear that abound, this is a harrowing and difficult task, especially because all of us are people with our own flaws and shortcomings and weaknesses. To be too honest about these flaws may lead other people to hold too negative a view of our character and to discount our virtues, and to be too discreet about our flaws and shortcomings may open us up to accusations of hypocrisy when evidence of our shortcomings comes out as it inevitably does. Every path we can take is frought with danger, and sometimes there are simply no right things we can do, no way that we can defend ourselves from mistaken judgments and interpretations nor any way that we can build trust through our own actions because other people simply are not willing or able to believe and trust in what they see or what we say.

Ultimately, trust, like everything else we ultimately desire from other people, is not something that can be earned by works but must be given by grace. (We ought to clearly admit that wrong deeds and words would certainly ‘earn’ a loss of trust, though.) Trust cannot be coerced or taken by someone from someone, but it must be the free gift of a willing heart, like love or respect. Our trust of others should be wise, in that we should recognize the weaknesses or quirks of others, to know where they can be trusted and where they cannot. All too often people in dangerous situations either cannot trust at all, and so they provoke the hostility of those who are also paranoid and insecure, or they trust immoderately because they cannot admit to themselves the danger that they are in from those who are in power and in places where they can do immense harm and injury. It is my hope that at least I may live my life in such a way as to be worthy of the trust that people hold in me, and to use whatever power or position I have for the benefit of others and not for their harm, to the best of my modest abilities. And, with all the assistance I may receive from my Creator, may that be enough.