On barns with binoculars...

Hello all,

I am currently writing a piece about trust on the internet, when I recalled a story from my hometown. I think it gets at the point that in order for someone to trust us, we have to trust them as well.

Here ya go:

I grew up in near a small town where everyone knew everyone else. We didn't lock our car doors. Many times I left my wallet or my leather jacket in plain view on the front seat, because I knew it would be there when I returned. We never worried about locking the doors to our house either, even if we were going to be on vacation for two weeks.

If we were short on cash but wanted a great meal--no problem. The owners of the small cafe in town would let us sign our bill, and we could pay it whenever we got around to it. Stores as a matter of habit extended credit to the locals, without doing a credit check.

The summer was my favorite time as a kid. Not having to attend school meant staying up later. We would expend enourmous amounts of energy running around outside until well after the sun slipped beneath the horizon. We were never afraid of strangers lurking in the shadows, because there weren't any. Our only fears were irrational--we thought bats might get stuck in our hair!

I love returning to my hometown, because in many respects it is unchanged. The community still values trust--those who are not only trustworthy but trust others feel right at home in the town.

Let me give you an example: some years back a bunch of folks from Kentucky decided a small town would be a great place to run a drug operation. They bought a farm and began growing marijuana hidden in fields of corn. They probably would have gotten away with this for some time, except for one thing--they didn't understand this town's dynamics. Specifically, they didn't understand the "trust factor."

These marijuana farmers set up barricades at the end of their driveway, and had pitbulls patroling their land. They kept to themselves, and became defensive when the locals asked them polite questions regarding what brought them to the area. They wouldn't even allow their new neighbors to come over and introduce themselves!

As you can imagine, not extending trust to others in turn lead to them being viewed as untrustworthy. It wasn't long before farmers were standing on their barns with binoculars, trying to get a glimpse of what those new "Kentucky folks" (since no one really knew their names, we had to call them something) were up to. A few weeks later, the $40 million drug bust in our small town hit the national headlines.
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Since I have already written quite a bit, I won't go in and analyze all the factors in this situation...but I think you know what I am talking about!

Becky




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Hi Becky!

Thanks, that was a great educational story.... It's lesson is very true.

I agree with you that people who trust others, also tend to be trusted....

I've also noticed the "opposite" -- people who are themselves untrustworthy, also tend to be untrustworthy of others.

Anyhow, it's a great piece of wisdom! We do reciprocate on trust....

Being untrustworthy can limit a person's success. Let me explain.

There are those who think the only way to get ahead is by taking advantage of others, by "ripping them off" in some way. As we know, there are (sadly) people like that around.... I pity them more than anything else.

When you look at them more closely, you'll find that these people believe that this is the "only" way they can get ahead. And there lies the seeds of their own failure....

Because of this, they are always hiding from the law to some degree. However, the most successful people I know of have good reputations, and provide good services or products to people. However, these "scamming"-type people won't do that, since they have a strange belief that if they do, they won't succeed....

If anyone achieves a certain amount of success, they will eventually get noticed. That means the law will notice them too.... If they are doing "scammy" things and they are "successful", the law will start to keep an eye out on them....

Therefore, these people know they can't be "too" successful, since otherwise they'll get noticed for their scammy dealings. So they tend to "self-sabotage" their success....

There are a few of these "scammers" who do become "big" successes, at least for a while. However, these people pretty much always end up in jail sooner or later.

That's why to become a big success, a person pretty much always has to be doing things honestly and legally. Otherwise, if a person is always scared of getting "caught", they will end up sabotaging their own success.

So, as they say, crime does not pay! Such people may never be caught, but if not, it's most likely because they have sabotaged their own success anyhow....

And so the saying is true, honesty is the best policy (and trustworthiness too).

Thank you Becky for sharing that great educational story! :)

- Dien

Hi Dien,

You are absolutely right. That would be a horrible life too, wouldn't it? Always looking behind you, wondering if that cop coming down the street is after you. I have heard that when some people get caught, they actually feel relieved because they can finally relax.

Remember the small town (population: 1000) I grew up in? Someone has been recently accused of embezzling millions of dollars from a local business (the well known Lund Boat manufacturer).

Here is the story from my hometown's own paper. In a small town, this is big stuff!

Becky




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