SEC S15W4: "Broken Trust"

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"I trust you", "Please trust me", "Trust me", etc. We all want people to trust us, and people want us to trust them too. But then, what exactly is trust? Is it possible to fully trust someone? Let's see.

What do you think the word trust mean?

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People have different definitions of trust. However, Oxford Dictionary sees trusting a person as having total confidence in, or relying on that person.

When you trust a person, you're free with the person. You can place everything you have in the person's care. Be it your safety, finance, family, EVERYTHING. That is REAL TRUST.

Presently in your country, do the citizens feel safe to trust one another? If not why? And if yes why?

Honestly, No. The thing is, the world has gotten bad to the extent that we can't even trust our family members anymore.

Here in Nigeria, the reasons for lack of trust are numerous. I'll just list a few

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1. The economy and cost of living has gotten so high that now, people are suffering BADLY. Due to the severe hardship, folks are willing to do everything humanely possible to make a living, hence sometimes they go to extreme length to make it. I know of a lady that said she's ready to sacrifice her children to make money if she sees a sure native doctor that'll guarantee her money.

2. Greed. People in Nigeria do alot of things as a result of greed. We've heard cases of children selling their parents' properties and running away with the money, friends you tell your ATM pin withdrawing money from your account and eloping, and things like these.

3. Most times, you trust a person and tell the person your secrets. Lo and behold, one day you guys have a fight and next thing your secret is out in the open. This is a common practice among Nigerians.

Now ask yourself, if you are in such a country, will you trust anyone?

Have you had any experience where your trust in someone was broken? Or such a scenario from a friend?

Well, I'm not really someone that trusts others but something happen to my friend and I'll like to share it. While this might sound like the script of a Korean high school drama, it actually happened.

When I was in secondary school, I had two class mates that were close friends. Unfortunately, they ended up falling for the same boy. This resulted in friction among the two girls. Long story short, they had a fight and next thing, one of the girls started telling everyone about how her father is feeding the other girl's family.

You can imagine how the other girl must have felt. Not only would she have been embarrassed, shame also fell upon her family. Her CLOSE FRIEND betrayed her JUST BECAUSE OF A BOY!.

Can you suggest ways to mend broken trust?

As people say, it's easier to scatter than to build. When trust is lost, gaining it is very difficult. It takes effort, perseverance, and real repentance to build it back up. The following tips might be helpful:

• Apologize to the person you are trying to regain his/her trust. Let it be known that you're very sorry for your actions

• Show that you're sorry with the things you do. Show the person love and care in every way possible.

• If you have the habit of talking bad about others, get rid of it. If the person sees you talking bad about others, they might feel you also talk bad about them behind their back.

Dear friends, it's important for us to know that while trusting others can be difficult, it is not impossible. While most people break trust, some do not. Therefore, let's try to keep an open mind. There are still people out there who are ready to show us REAL LOVE and AFFECTION.