As you know i am not the sharpest tool in the box.
Last night I saw a tweet saying "French News wires reporting Margret Thatcher has died", so i RT`d it and shared it with some people ( i could not confirm it due to not speaking french). The story turned out to be false in the end which was confirmed by news channels/reporters within 30 mins.
Anyway this isn't the main thrust of want i wanted to write about.
As i wrote before i like to see the good in everyone, and , if i am honest i am probably a bit "easily led" or in English "gullible". So despite being Left a bit red-faced i sat thinking about whether its good to be more of a cynic and less trusting or to carry on with my belief that i will continue to see the best in everyone.
Now of course it doesn't help that i am behind most people in education terms, and yes , as you have read i have had many people abuse my trust before (so its not exactly a new problem), do you change your principles on account of some people taking advantage of it? That's what politicians do, and we all know that they are not held in the highest esteem in this or most countries.
I don't know if i could ever change, or if i want to but at i can spot my weakness and criticise myself which makes me slightly ahead of politicians despite there education.
The old Russian proverb "Trust but verify" springs to mind, Billy. Unless someone is extremely touchy about the other person's scepticism (i.e. "Are you insinuating I would lie?"), most people, if you ask them what they will get out of a deal, or why they're coming to you with their business, will tell you some story or another, and you just have to apply a little common sense to judge whether their story is more likely true than not. The old joke about the woman trying on a dress and asking the sales lady "Do I look fat in this?" and the sales lady answering "Do I look naive enough to give you a straight answer?" most assuredly applies here! Don't be cynical-- be sceptical. The difference is that a cynic's mind is made up already-- people are going to mess with me, and it will take a lot of work to convince me otherwise-- whereas a sceptic says "Pardon me if I don't make up my mind just yet."
ReplyDeleteNot sure if this applies, but I heard a good one you might like:
Optimist= the glass is half-full;
Pessimist= the glass is half empty;
Realist= Who gives a toss? I'm thirsty, give me that glass of beer!
A handy rule: never assume malice when simple incompetence explains things. It's worked for me nine times out of ten, well I say nine - eight times out of ten perhaps....
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