to trust or not to trust.

Having spent an evening with two endearing kids, playing games, cuddling them and being cuddled (as well as being leapt on and smothered) I couldn't help but think about the nature of "trust".

Kids trust, and trust completely. They snuggle up to you with open arms and hearts, no holds barred, no fear, no distrust. It is a sad fact that one learns the art of distrust through the years in order to survive, for without distrust we would be destroyed. People encourage you to trust, but lets face it, we live in a world where trusting as a child does, with complete faith, is often nothing short of a recipe for disaster.

Ever so rarely we drop our guard, let our vulnerabilities be seen and let ourselves be known. But that is rare. So rare. If one possesses one friend with whom one can do that, I think it is one of the greatest privileges and gifts of life. Nothing, just nothing, compares to that gift. We might have all we want, but if we do not possess at least one person with whom our guard is completely down, where our hearts are open without fear or distrust, we do not have what we most truly need - the freedom to be what we most truly are.

Sadly most times we are compelled to fold our arms, shut our hearts, bar the doors, smell our fear and nurse our distrust and run for cover, terrified that our openness will destroy us, make us vulnerable and hurt. Most of us have been there, done that and that's it. No more. Bye bye trust.

Dido says that if one's instincts are in good working order, you can scent danger long before it hits you and run. But if you smell "safety" you can smoothen your fur and with a contented stretch, purr long and loud. She at the moment is feeling somewhat injured at the indignity of having been bitten by a child! "I bite" she told me with immense dignity. "I do not get bitten"! "The worst indignity," she said, sniffin with irritation "is being sucked on like a soother. Huh you talking of trust? I don't trust no kid within a mile of pe pellet leopard."