(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) I'm slightly devastated. I was invited to the wedding of a person whose parents I grew up with. The 'save the date' invite " an American practice I think because I have not seen this anywhere else" arrived several months ago.
I was so looking forward to going up to Nebraska to see my friends. But I cannot make it. Time, work, finances and other commitments don't permit it. So I sent in the response card"another American thing" saying sorry we can't be there.
The phone rang a few days later saying why aren't you coming. I explained and it seemed like my friends understood. Then the phone rang again and they asked if I'm not going because they did not include the names of my sons on the card. What? Really? Good grief, is that what you think of me now? How could you think I'd be as petty as that? Don't you know me anymore? Don't you know if that was an issue I would have called up and said is it alright if the young men come too?
Who do we not trust anymore? Relatives, friends, bosses, colleagues, the supermarket cashier, the neighbour, our politicians, our own family?
My work colleagues are always telling me things in confidence and add the caveat please don't mention this to anyone.
The bigger picture, however, is that we really don't trust anyone anymore. The banks are beastly. You can't go online without being afraid you'll be hacked. Your credit cards need protection, because it's scary having your ID compromised. I know, mine was and it took 18 months to get out of the clutches of the person who stole our identities and sent himself on flights to Hawaii.
Trust is dust, it's flown away into the thinning ozone. Whoosh. Gone.
I read about the ghastly corruption rampant in India where I was born. Where my ayah was my best friend and people who saw me walking alone from the school bus to home kept an eye on me for my safety. Or London, where the cabbie returned a 20 pound note to me because I gave him too much money for the ride home from the airport. Or the New York cabbie who would not leave me at my drop off point because he said it was not safe and he'd wait till I'd finish my work and take me back to my hotel and wouldn't keep the meter running.
Has trust eroded into non-existence? In America it's common practice to say to someone, it's okay, trust me. The words have evolved into a casual phrase.
We're all in the trap. Money hungry, haunted by mortgages, worried about getting older and not knowing what's in store.
I say stop worrying and start trusting. Our creator first, He got us this far, and gave us the ability to deal with it all.
Well I'm not having any more of this. My book on distrust is closed. I'm going to keep on trusting my friends and family, colleagues and bosses, grocery stores, bankers and neighbours, you know why?
Distance is the divider. Time to get up close to people, yep those who like us have a million worries and pressures. Especially people from the past whom you hold up as trophies you have won in life. People from the present, who you must learn are your new connections to your life, as it exists at this time.
Pinky Daniels is a freelance journalist based in the United States
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