Why should you trust people

When we are little, those who take care of us make sure to inform us about the perils of trusting strangers. It is, let’s be sure of this, a way to protect us, but also to help us protect ourselves from the things we do not know or could not understand for we lack life experience.

When we grow older, our life experience grows with us. Some become more careful, others surround themselves with high fences, and a small number never learn their lesson, regardless of the many deceits they have experienced – for them, the trust in humanity comes by default.

There is a show that I feel is very interesting made by a French show creator - J’irai dormir chez vous (I want to sleep at your place) – which beautifully presents the status of trust throughout the globe. Besides geographical, cultural and social information that one can learn while watching the show, there is a main focus on this – How much do you trust people? Do you feel you can trust me? Can I sleep at your place?

As a rule, it always seems that the poorest, the ones living in precarious conditions, are more willing to share their space, food and water with the show creator.

I must admit, I see a somewhat excentricity in letting a stranger into your home, a stranger that you have never seen before, who also films you and your home – a reality show, actually. But still... there are some who receive him in their homes in order to spend the night.

I find myself in the first category. But I must add that I do belive that trust must be gained, and I do not hurry to trust anyone, just like that. Namely, I won’t start enchanting strangers I have just met with my beautiful voice. For I believe that in order to see such performances one must have earned them.

Still, sometimes I get to surprise myself with the confidence I invest in situations or people. For example, in 2015, I was living in Russia. It was rather easy for me to learn the Cyrillic alphabet – and this because it was nice to discover that they had a reverse r, like I used to write it when learning the Latin Alphabet- and knew a couple of words to use in case of need. So, back then, I was looking for a job.

On the day I am telling you about, I was on my way for an interview for an English teacher position. I had made notes on a piece of paper regarding the itinerary to follow in order to get to the private school I had applied for. Still, something went wrong and I got lost. I turned left and right, but still could not find myself on the right way. Therefore, even though I had scarce knowledge of the Russian language, I stopped the passersby. People who did not speak English, but who were willing to help me. At a certain point, I arrived near some apartment buildings. I was on the street the school was supposed to be. But still, no sign of it. The metal door (a standard door for Russian apartment buildings) of a twelve-floor apartment building opened and a gentleman came out. I had arrived at my wits’ end and so the despair I was feeling made me ask for his help. I showed him the piece of paper with the names of the street and the school I was looking for. I figured that if he came out of the building he had to know more than me about the surroundings.

The look on his face made me realize I was in the wrong. But he showed me that he will look on his phone. He only made use of a couple of words in Russian, being aware that I could have not understood. Then, he pointed towards his car. He charged his phone in there and introduced the name of the street. It seemed to take forever for the map to load, but then an itinerary appeared on the screen. The gentleman made a gesture for me to enter his car. And I got in. We drived for less than 2 minutes, enough to go around the block and to arrive in front of the school. I thanked him, got out of the car and went inside for the job interview. I only realized after leaving the school that I had willingly put myself in danger. I was a foreigner who hardly spoke the local language; exactly the perfect target. Still, my purpose had paralyzed my fears, making me experience a beautiful feeling. That of having trust in someone and that certain someone did not deceive my trust. It is truly something extraordinary to discover that we are people amongst people and we are capable of helping each other without a hidden purpose or benefit.