Who do you trust?

Do we trust everyone?

On Sunday, there was an interesting conversation going on between two guys in the church office between two guys. The topic of discussion had to do with trusting the people who work around us, go to church with us, and live around us. How many times have we heard on the television "This person kept to themselves." or "They seemed like nice people". I guess, I’m paraphrasing a bit there, but you get the idea. There are people around us all the time. How many of those people do we really know? Maybe, you know someone who has committed a serious crime. Did you think, they were capable of doing such an act? I’ve been in that situation a couple times, myself. Both times, I was shocked.

My sister in law told me about a guy we went to school with from elementary school to high school. Nothing seemed odd or different about this guy. I found out from my sister in law that, this guy was arrested for molesting a child. Needless to say, he is now listed on the sex offender registry.

In another case, a guy from my local church was arrested for having child porn on his computer plus he had other charges against him. He gave me some fake story. The very next day, he was arrested. It was all over the local newspaper. Up until that point, I had no idea this guy was any different than you or me. Sure, he had some ideas that, were unique. I didn’t think too much of it. There was no real reason for me to even think, that he might be doing criminal activities.

I cannot allow these two guys to make me fearful of everyone. How well do we know the people in our neighborhood, at work, or at church? I like to think, that not everyone is a criminal. I like to think that, we can generally trust everyone. Still there are times, when I’m not so sure. It seems like more and more, the guy next door is not to be trusted. Seems like lately, child molesters are every where. Take the guy from church, I thought I could trust him. How safe are our the kids in country? We don’t know the people who live around us. We don’t generally know the private lives of those who live around us. There is no reason for me to not my co-workers. I really want to trust the people who I come in contact with everyday. Though it is becoming a harder thing to do. I don’t want to be paranoid over every little thing. We carry labels around with us. It’s unfair. Do we sometimes label people around us.

What are your thoughts??